Story Archive

Clean up Your Language

An internal memo from the Office for Civil Rights at Seattle (Wash.) City Hall is urging government workers to clean up their “potentially offensive” language. “Luckily, we’ve got options,” Elliott Bronstein wrote in the memo. “For ‘citizens,’ how about ‘residents’?” And “brown bag” lunch meetings should be called “lunch and learn” or “sack lunch” sessions, Bronstein says, because “It used to be a way people could judge skin color.” Washington state lawmakers have also followed suit and removed gender-specific language from all documents, changing freshmen to “first-years,” journeymen to “journey-level,” and penmanship to “handwriting.” (MS/KOMO Seattle) ...Because “residents” depersonded good leadership from mid-level personagers.