Brandeis University is a liberal arts college in Waltham, Massachusetts. The institution, known for its liberal views and regulations, has just published a list of prohibited terms that will no longer be allowed on campus. The word “picnic,” among others, are now off-limits to students and professors at Massachusetts’ Brandeis University.
The use of these common words and phrases was prohibited owing to their status as “violent language” and their inadvisability for the students. The terms banned have a connection to violent imagery, which is why Brandeis University decided to ban the phrase “trigger warning,” which is too closely linked with guns and violence.
The school looked for terms that had been widely used in American pop culture. However, the institution claims that the words are based on violent meanings and are not conducive to today’s politically correct society.
According to the school, “picnic is often associated with lynchings of black people in the United States, during which white spectators were said to have watched while eating, referring to them as picnics or other terms involving racial slurs against black people.”
The word picnic comes from the French term “pique-nique,” which originally referred to someone bringing his or her own wine to a meal. It was first used in England in the 18th century and has evolved to mean eating outside.
Brandeis University published an “oppressive language list” that proposed alternative phrases for students and professors to utilize rather than the contentious ones.
“PARC recognizes that language is a powerful tool used to perpetuate and perpetuate oppression. As a community, we strive to remove oppressive language from our everyday use. This list is meant to be a tool to share information and suggestions about potentially oppressive language.”
The term “killing it” was challenged, as was the phrase “taking a shot at.” Instead of “taking a shot at,” they suggested saying “great job” or “awesome.” While students and instructors are encouraged to say “give it a go” or “try” instead of the other two examples.
The phrase “go off the reservation” was judged to be inflammatory since “this phrase has a harmful history rooted in the violent removal of indigenous people from their land and the horrible consequences for someone that left the reservation.”
The word “rule of thumb” is on the list. Students and professors are advised to say “general rule” instead of “rule of thumb.” Because “this expression comes from an old British law allowing men to beat their wives with sticks no wider than their thumb.”
“Many professed Christians are like to foolish builders, who build by guess, and by the rule of thumb (as we use to speak), and not by Square and Rule,” said Scottish Preacher James Durham in 1865, as he published this phrase for the first time.
In addition, the school believes that “victim” and “survivor” should not be used because they imply a passive role and instead want to use phrases such as “person who has experienced” or “person who has been impacted by.”
