After anthropologist Michael Oman-Reagan created a stir on Twitter about the Oxford English Dictionary's questionable common usage examples, he discovered that this author had written a blog post almost two years earlier on the very example he cited, "a rabid feminist." Consequently, he credited this author on Twitter and at his own blog and asked that reporters interview me and other women instead of him.
As a result of Michael's fairness in reporting, a number of news media websites, such as the Washington Post, the Huffington Post, Pajiba, Vox, and SheKnows, have quoted the writer of this article to explain why Oxford's example for the word "rabid" is troubling.
What's more important, however, is acknowledgment from the head of content creation at OxfordDictionaries.com that our critique of that tome's usage example is valid. She asserts that although the dictionary shows accurately a common usage of "rabid," its example is a poor choice. In her blog post, "How are dictionary examples chosen?," she writes:
. . . the real-life sentence from which the example was taken involved someone denigrating a person described as being a feminist. However, it was a poorly chosen example in that the controversial and impolitic nature of the example distracted from the dictionary’s aim of describing and clarifying meaning.
Multiple female anthropologists and linguists came forward during the protest documenting that they also have written about sexist language in dictionaries in the past, but their objections to such entries went unnoticed, as did this writer's. Michael agreed that his complaint probably received more attention because he is male. Some will wish to argue whether that conclusion is the case, but in the meantime, this author is pleased that the Oxford English Dictionary is revisiting its common usage choice.
___________________________________________________________
FYI: Nordette N. Adams has been known online as Frillie the Dragon aka FrillieDragon, Jersey Goddess, and Writing Junkie. She has worked under the Federal Government as an intern; has worked for Louisiana State Government and Jefferson Parish Government, plus for various newspapers. Additionally, she was delivered from a former surname assumed during marraige and returned to her birth name at the end of that union.
Despite her many incarnations, including associations with social justice causes, she assures readers that she is not a secret agent. She knows, however, the secrets of agency.
Share
Save
[