We don’t seem to mind when words are created, but who decides when a word should be retired?
This week, the Associated Press decided that it would refrain from using the words homophobia and Islamophobia. What’s behind the change? Will this make a difference in our vocabulary?
Linguist Daniel Midgley investigates on this episode of Talk the Talk.
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The Associated Press Stylebook has nixed the word ‘homophobia’.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/11/ap-nixes-homophobia-ethnic-cleansing-150315.html
It’s sort of a style guide for writers and reporters.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AP_Stylebook
John Aravosis of AmericaBlog has some comments about homophobia and Islamophobia:
http://americablog.com/2012/11/ap-bans-the-word-homophobia.html
The word ‘Islamophobia’ has been around for a while.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamophobia#Etymology
Lots of words have other senses of meaning. ‘Chronic’ means ‘long-term’, but people use it to mean ‘really bad’.
http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=chronic&sub=Search+WordNet&o2=&o0=1&o8=1&o1=1&o7=&o5=&o9=&o6=&o3=&o4=&h=0
Helena from Morning Chorus points out that ‘phobia’ does not always mean ‘fear’.
http://morningchorus.tumblr.com/post/23292129861/i-hate-the-word-homophobia-its-not-a-phobia-youre
Someone once tried to use ‘homophobia’ to mean ‘fear of people’ or some such, but it didn’t take.
Google Books link
No entry on ‘homophobia’ would be complete without a Google Ngram chart!
