Hey there, readers of the Verbal Versatility Press! Buckle up, because today we're taking a linguistic roller coaster ride that'll make your thesaurus spin faster than a DJ's turntable. Our tale involves a head-spinning phone call from a subscriber who read us the riot act, politely albeit harshly, on our usage of a specific word in a headline.
What caused their linguistic anger, you ask? Well, let's just say they weren't too keen on the "I" word — you know the one… inclusivity.
Picture this. The sun is shining, birds are chirping and Dickinson Public School decides to jazz up its expansion and renovation plans for the new High School to be in tune with the ever-sensible Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). We even put out an article that elegantly explained the details of their endeavor — a bond and plan that we at The Press support and stand behind, but that’s next week’s column.
But ah, the word that 'shall not be used' garnered the ire of said subscriber. They actually touted the article as well-written and informative, but the Sauron of evils was in the headline. You know, that thing that everyone reads at the top of the story without ever reading the article most of the time. Well, this headline drew their wrath because it dared to mention the dreaded "I" word.
Inclusivity, dear readers, that seemingly innocuous term, has apparently been snatched by the "far-left" and taken on a life of its own, like a rebellious teenager refusing to follow curfew. Our caller insisted that the word had lost its way, becoming tangled in the barbed wire of gender, race and sexuality of the progressive movement. To them, it was like using "rad" to describe an amazing skateboard trick, when "rad" is actually short for "radical" — they were convinced it was a gnarly and twisted mistake…or the spawn of “liberal” media.
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Now, let’s pause to ruminate on this. I’ll make the coffee, and be right back.
It's a peculiar quirk of human nature to attach new meanings to familiar words. Just because some folks decided in the '90s that "bad" could mean "good," doesn't mean we're gonna break out the air horns and send out an all-points-bulletin to our newsroom demanding we stop using the original "bad" in our stories, right?
Imagine a newspaper article with a headline that reads, "City Commission enacts Bad policy," followed by a story about some really cool thing they did that was cognizant of taxpayer dollars and was a clear benefit to the community. Let's just say it'd be a total flop with that headline, not to mention that I’m sure commissioners would be reaching out about the headline too.
But hey, words are slippery creatures. They're like jellyfish at a beach party — stingy if you're not careful, yet pretty awesome when you embrace their true essence. You see, words come with baggage but, it’s all about context. If we replaced every word, every time it got co-opted by politics, we’d have newspapers that read like Haiku poetry.
“Handcuffed, silent man,
Drugs found, freedom slips away,
Choices led astray.”
I thought long and hard about even addressing this issue to be honest. I mean, we get angry phone calls all the time about all sorts of issues, and believe it or not I don’t write about them. But here I felt it important to take a moment to marvel at the current state of affairs in the good ol' U.S. of A.
Everything, from granola bars and NASA to beer and pillows has somehow become an arena for political sparring. Can I even use the word “sparring,” or is that ableist nowadays? I digress.
Let's toast to the power of words — their history, their evolution and their remarkable ability to keep us all on our toes. Inclusivity, dear readers, isn't just about fitting all the cool kids into the same clubhouse. It’s also about letting words be words, embracing their original meanings while acknowledging their quirky, modern twists. After all, language isn't just a tool; it's the epicenter of human connection, even when it feels like a linguistic minefield at times.
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So, as I sip my coffee and savor the strange beauty of it all, let's remember that inclusivity in language is just as important as in society itself. And if the Word Police come knocking at our headlines, ready to read us our etymological rights, we'll just smile, hand them a dictionary and say, "Chill bruh, you doin’ too much fam, like no cap.”
Words change, but we're keeping it old-school, newspaper cool, here at The Dickinson Press. Why? Cause it's bad… but in a good way.
Editor's Note: On a more serious note, we do take complaints into consideration on all input. Readers are of immense value to us and your opinions are needed. But in the old adage, “You’ll probably win more bees with honey.” Thank you Dickinson for the ear and patience with us here at The Dickinson Press.
James B. Miller, Jr. is the Editor of The Dickinson Press in Dickinson, North Dakota. He strives to bring community-driven, professional and hyper-local focused news coverage of southwest North Dakota.
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