I love this conversation. It is an important one right now that addresses the intersection between the precise language needed to communicate science and the greater zeitgeist around politicization of vocabulary. It will be interesting to see how the etymology of scientific language migrates in response to this selective pressure.
However, if you will allow me to put on my tinfoil hat for a moment, I feel compelled to remind the faculty from publicly funded universities in the US that your institutional emails may be subject to Freedom of Information Act requests. I was at the University of Florida when the Organic Consumers Association decided to go after Kevin Folta via US Right to Know, and it was nasty. I would not put it past the administration to weaponize FOIA requests in the future to root out dissent among US academics. Just something to consider when engaging in these types of conversations. Cheers, Kat Sippel, PhD, ELS On Wed, Mar 12, 2025 at 1:41 PM Harry Powell < 0000193323b1e616-dmarc-requ...@jiscmail.ac.uk> wrote: > "_golf_ of America” particularly apt with current POTUS… > > Harry > > > On 12 Mar 2025, at 17:49, Oganesyan, Vaheh < > vaheh.oganes...@astrazeneca.com> wrote: > > > > You never know what is on their minds (Musk&Don). Would you guess > anything related to Greenland before hearing it, or golf of America? > > > > Vaheh > > > > From: CCP4 bulletin board <CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK> On Behalf Of Harry > Powell > > Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2025 1:30 PM > > To: CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK > > Subject: Re: [ccp4bb] Words to avoid > > > > I don’t thnk that’s why it’s been banned... > > > > > On 12 Mar 2025, at 17:09, Ian Tickle <ianj...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > > > > > --------- Forwarded message --------- > > > From: Ian Tickle <ianj...@gmail.com> > > > Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2025, 14:08 > > > Subject: Re: [ccp4bb] Words to avoid > > > To: Herbert J. Bernstein <yaya...@gmail.com> > > > > > > I spell it 'polarisation' anyway (from Late Latin 'Stella Polaris' = > 'Pole Star'). > > > > > > Cheers > > > > > > -- Ian > > > > > > > > > On Tue, 11 Mar 2025, 20:00 Herbert J. Bernstein, <yaya...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > > Dear Colleagues, > > > When I got home today, Frances presented me with an article from the > > > NY Times which contained the attached list of words and the > explanation, > > > "As President Trump seeks to purge the federal government of "woke" > initiatives, agencies have flagged hundreds of words to limit or avoid, > > > according to a compilation of government documents." > > > For this audience in particular, please note that "Mx", > "polarization", "orientation", "status", "systemic". "discrimination", > "equality", "expression", "barriers", and "bias" are among the words to > avoid. Care should be > > > taken in writing proposals and reports since AIs may be used for > screening > > > and they are' likely to miss explanatory context. > > > Regard, > > > Herbert > > > > > > > > > To unsubscribe from the CCP4BB list, click the following link: > > > https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/WA-JISC.exe?SUBED1=CCP4BB&A=1 > > > > > > > > > To unsubscribe from the CCP4BB list, click the following link: > > > https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/WA-JISC.exe?SUBED1=CCP4BB&A=1 > > > > > > > ######################################################################## > > > > To unsubscribe from the CCP4BB list, click the following link: > > https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/WA-JISC.exe?SUBED1=CCP4BB&A=1 > > > > This message was issued to members of www.jiscmail.ac.uk/CCP4BB, a > mailing list hosted by www.jiscmail.ac.uk, terms & conditions are > available at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/policyandsecurity/ > > > > Confidentiality Notice: This message is private and may contain > confidential and proprietary information. If you have received this message > in error, please notify us and remove it from your system and note that you > must not copy, distribute or take any action in reliance on it. Any > unauthorized use or disclosure of the contents of this message is not > permitted and may be unlawful. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > To unsubscribe from the CCP4BB list, click the following link: > > https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/WA-JISC.exe?SUBED1=CCP4BB&A=1 > > > > ######################################################################## > > To unsubscribe from the CCP4BB list, click the following link: > https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/WA-JISC.exe?SUBED1=CCP4BB&A=1 > > This message was issued to members of www.jiscmail.ac.uk/CCP4BB, a > mailing list hosted by www.jiscmail.ac.uk, terms & conditions are > available at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/policyandsecurity/ > ######################################################################## To unsubscribe from the CCP4BB list, click the following link: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/WA-JISC.exe?SUBED1=CCP4BB&A=1 This message was issued to members of www.jiscmail.ac.uk/CCP4BB, a mailing list hosted by www.jiscmail.ac.uk, terms & conditions are available at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/policyandsecurity/
