Yes, I am being dramatic.
From the Telegraph:
Oxford University Press has removed words like "aisle", "bishop", "chapel", "empire" and "monarch" from its Junior Dictionary and replaced them with words like "blog", "broadband" and "celebrity". Dozens of words related to the countryside have also been culled.
The publisher claims the changes have been made to reflect the fact that Britain is a modern, multicultural, multifaith society.
But academics and head teachers said that the changes to the 10,000 word Junior Dictionary could mean that children lose touch with Britain's heritage.
There's a list of words taken out. Many, many animal and plant names. Kids don't need to know what a newt is? Or what "poultry" means? The Christian words are basic words: disciple, saint, sin - and not as many as might be indicated by the article's headline. Also gone are some words related to the monarchy, including, well, monarch, coronation, and decade (I don't get the connection there).
There are some good additions, such as "common sense." Surprised to see that one!
Read the whole thing, and check out some of the many comments. (I could not read them all.) Naturally as with any set of reader comments there are silly things being said. But of course anyone complaining about the changes is... wait for it.... racist!
1 comment:
Well, add that to the list of things homeschoolers have to buy for their home libraries- old dictionaries. Sigh.
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