Free Republic

Samuel Johnson’s “Dictionary of the English Language,” first published in 1755, defines the word “woman” as, “The female of the human race.” And until October of 2022, the word “woman” was still defined as, “An adult female human being” in the Cambridge Dictionary. What transpired on the topic during the intervening 267 years? Not much. Science confirmed what men and women have known since Adam and Eve began talking past each other — not only do the sexes have immutable physiological differences, down to their genetic matter, but they observe, act, and think differently as well. Yet Cambridge now says...

The White House has just redefined the word “recession” because, well, of course they did. A new GDP report is expected Thursday, which many experts anticipate will show growth declines for a second straight quarter. Since the White House has just put out an updated definition, the Biden administration can plan on evading the r-word entirely. Or so it thinks. “While some maintain that two consecutive quarters of falling real GDP constitute a recession, that is neither the official definition nor the way economists evaluate the state of the business cycle,” the White House wrote. “Instead, both official determinations of...

The Colorado Sex Offender Management Board (SOMB) has determined that referring to people who commit sexual crimes as “sex offenders” isn’t “person-first” language.Instead, rapists, flashers, peeping toms, and other perverts will be called an “Adult who commits sexual offenses.” According to Denver Post writer Alex Burness, “Those who supported this change feel the ‘sex offender’ label is not nuanced enough and can impede rehabilitation.”Woke linguistics! I’m almost as sick of the world of woke, as I am of covid. https://t.co/1WCNYXucw5— Colorado Conservative ⛪️ 👩‍❤️‍👨 🇺🇸 ⛰ 🏕 🏈 🏌️ (@COS_Conservatve) November 20, 2021Leaving aside the documented fact that most sex...

“To learn who rules over you, find out whom you are not allowed to criticize.” — Voltaire If you’re wondering what Americans can do as our ruling class sets about enforcing its redefinition of marriage, start by looking back at what it did to the citizens of Indiana when their legislature raised the possibility that someone might object to joining in celebrations of homosexual marriage. Support for homosexual unions was incidental to the insistence of the likeminded folks atop society’s commanding heights on punishing Indiana. What incurs their ire has less to do with any substantive matter than with the...

<p>The Associated Press on Thursday updated its stylebook so that married individuals will be referred to as husband and wife, regardless of whether they are in a same-sex marriage. The change comes a week after the AP received criticism for an internal memo designating the word "partners" for individuals in same-sex marriages.</p>

It is not for federal judges to redefine marriage for us. When they do, it is tantamount to cultural suicide, and we should not be surprised at the cultural and social degradation sure to follow. William Bennett writes in his book The De-Valuing of Society, “Our common culture … embodies truths that most Americans can recognize and examine for themselves. These truths are passed down from generation to generation, transmitted in the family, in the classroom, and in our churches and synagogues.” But the truths of our culture and the traditional American family are now being attacked and demagogued like...

The Political Spectrum - How The Word "Liberal" Has Been Redefined Franklin D. Roosevelt, in 1932, redefined the word liberalism. Prior to 1932, liberalism meant "a belief in individual liberty." He gave the word a new meaning: "a belief in paternalistic government and trading individual liberty for state-sponsored security" by redefining what he called "the forgotten man." In 1932, FDR talked about helping someone he called "the forgotten man." This phrase came from a book that had been written decades earlier by William Graham Sumner. However, Roosevelt redefined Sumner's definition of "the forgotten man." Sumner defines "the forgotten man"...

Life goes on, and so does the pillaging of the dictionary by the enemies of free speech. If you can't shut people up, the logic seems to go, the next best thing is not to let what they say signify anything. "Tolerance" has come to mean forced acceptance, "rights" to mean special privileges for those with highly paid lobbyists, and "freedom" to mean the freedom to oppress others. The Constitution upon which our government is based has come to mean just about nothing at all. Read more: Pillaging the dictionary http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=335621#ixzz1VY06EXge

Anne Hendershott, a professor of sociology at the University of San Diego, boldly uses in the title of her latest book, The Politics of Deviance (Encounter, 2004), a word that many dare no longer speak. WORLD: Is anything deviant anymore? Hendershott: We have become reluctant to label behaviors "deviant." Drug abuse, promiscuity, abortion, and even homosexual acts are all behaviors that in the past were viewed as quite deviant. Today, in many cases, these behaviors have been normalized—or, as the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan said, we have "defined deviancy down." I was curious how that happened and decided to...

T O L E R A N C E. O R G - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - A project of the Southern Poverty Law Center Sept. 9, 2004 *** GAY ACTIVISTS TO THROW ECONOMIC PUNCH *** Members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, queer and questioning community, along with their straight allies, will protest anti-LGBTQ policies -- including President Bush's stance against gay marriage -- in a one-day boycott...