the r-word

This is the 40th anniversary of the Special Olympics in Canada.

"In June 1969, in Toronto, Ontario, the very first Special Olympics competition was held in Canada, less than one year after the sports movement was born on Chicago’s Soldier Field. It attracted 1,400 individuals with intellectual disabilities from towns and cities across the country who came to compete in athletics, aquatics and no surprise here, floor hockey."

This year the Special Olympics (Canadian site) is launching a new campaign on March 31: Spread the Word to the End the Word. Special Olympics is asking us to recognize and rethink our use of the word "retard," or the "R-word."

"Most people don't think of this word as hate speech, but that's exactly what it feels like to millions of people with intellectual disabilities, their families and friends. This word is just as cruel and offensive as any other slur."

I thought that this was something we had all learned a long time ago but I have noticed the resurgence of the word over the past few years. I thought perhaps the word had lost its connection to a group of people, but it turns out I thought wrong. I actually used "retarded" as an adjective last week. I noted it because I was shocked to hear that word coming from my mouth for the first time since my playground days when I was sharply chastised for it. I am still not clear why it happened. I thought that I needed to check myself. And I thought about how common usage can enter, or re-enter, our lexicons so easily if we are not paying attention.

It is something even the mightiest of us are learning, or re-learning. Last Thursday, on The Tonight Show, President Obama said his bowling skills are "like Special Olympics or something." He was trying to make a self-deprecating joke of course, but then realized that he had instead insulted a whole group of people. On his way home, Obama called the Special Olympics Chairman, Timothy Shriver, to apologize for the remark.

I guess, at least for the President and me, this campaign could not come at a better time.

You can learn more about the campaign and make a pledge at http://www.r-word.org/.

the triple triple

I hope you all had a magical winter solstice and managed to stay warm and cozy on the longest night of the year. Here in Toronto, we were told to expect, as a follow up to the hyperbolically dubbed snowmageddon, a snowpocalypse. It turned out to be more of a snow calypso; scattered flurries of giant swirling flakes that made the big city feel like a tiny snowglobe.

I have noticed that a lot of the literacy folks who are also Facebook friends seem to enjoy playing the Scrabble-like games available on the 'book. For all those word-loving literacy workers, please enjoy this video called Craziest by Liz Dubelman of VidLit.

being clear

If you've never read George Orwell's "Politics and the English Language" (1946), you're missing a treat. He argues that too many writers don't bother to "[pick] out words for the sake of their meaning and [invent] images in order to make the meaning clearer." Instead, they "[gum] together long strips of words which have already been set in order by someone else".

Orwell's view is that these all-too-pervasive habits can lead to careless thinking, as writers can get bogged down in familiar phrases on their way to seeking exactly how to express what they want to say. More dangerous, he says, is the way in which this type of writing is used in politics.

In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible. Things like the continuance of British rule in India, the Russian purges and deportations, the dropping of the atom bombs on Japan, can indeed be defended, but only by arguments which are too brutal for most people to face, and which do not square with the professed aims of political parties. Thus political language has to consist largely of euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness.

His essay is a call to "send worn-out and useless phrase[s]...into the dustbin, where [they] belong. It also includes a useful checklist for writing clear prose.

Check it out!

more word games

Over at Word Imperfect:

"I choose an obscure dictionary word. You invent a wacky meaning. I put 3 invented meanings on the voting poll below and list the true meaning."

Estovers is the word for today.

My definition is:

people in ontario (central canada) call relatives and friends from the maritimes (eastern canada) who come to stay "estovers".

i better get the sheets and towels washed ~ the estovers are arriving tomorrow!

What is yours?

Post it over at Word Imperfect.

You can also vote for the best definition of scaramouch:

• Scaramouch is a type of garrotte used in Scotland. During the middle-ages it was the favourite method of execution. It was made out of carded and spun sheeps' wool and fitted nicely into the little pocket at the back of the sporran. (lorenzothellama)
  
• A scaramouch is an elaborate ruse, albeit shaky; a house or cards. (ingrid)
  
• Scaramouch - a feather duster used by French maids (usually wearing short black skirts, white pinafores and fishnet stockings) who are appearing in stage farces (an odd theatrical format greatly loved by the British). (flamingo)
  

new word

Craig over at Flip Flop Flying is looking for a new word:

"I think the English language needs a new word: something that describes a person who is less than an acquaintance,
but more than a stranger. ...
It seems to me, that this is a linguistic blind spot when it comes to relationships: family, partner, friend, colleague, acquaintance, [new word], stranger."

His quest made me think of Kurt Vonnegut's granfalloon.

Granfalloon: A group of two or more people who imagine or are manipulated to believe they share a connection based on some circumstance of little or no real significance.

__________: A group of two or more people who share a connection based on some little circumstance of significance.

Can you can help him out? Leave a comment on his blog. Or here.

P.S. While you are there, check out Whiskers and Whiskers II for more good data we can use.