Do we need UW word list to watch our language?

Published 1:30 am Friday, February 4, 2022

After reading Andrea Brown’s column on the University of Washington’s word use guide, I turned white as a sheet (Oops! A veiled reference to cruel KKK coneheads) (“UW’s ‘problematic’ word list; ‘crazy, ‘ninya’ — and ‘grandfather’?). My wife informed me that the “white as a sheet” no longer applied because at home we have only colored (Yow! A demeaning reference to some people) sheets. Then I noted how our honorary grandchildren (Gee! If “grandfather” is disdained, “grandchild” surely is dubious) referred to me as Grandpa Bill, a diminutive of the dreaded word “grandfather.” These youngsters (Yikes! Ageism in reverse) are about to embark on university careers. Thank goodness (an unfortunate, if vague, reference to a deity in our secular society) they will be protected from harm while institutional groupthink eases their paths, because they are of Taiwanese descent. Is “Taiwanese descent” permitted?

William H. Wilson

Lynnwood