Now The Word Leper Is Unacceptable

[DTCwordfan]

used a a five letter solution to a crossword clue 'outcast' as in an edition of 'Life and Work', the protest coming from the CEO of the Leprosy Mission in Scotland, she saying that she was 'somewhat dismayed' and that the use of the L-word should be banned, summarising 'in fact, we should have a campaign entitles "Delete the L-word",

Daily Telegraph page 2 today.

Purleeese - this is taking things yet another step too far. What next, a purge of disease names and any associated adjectives?

Views?

[barry1010]

Good grief! Could the Daily Record not find a more outdated photo to represent people who have leprosy?

[perseverer]

For what it's worth, one of the definitions of leper in Chambers is outcast, though I don't like its use in the crossword.

[barry1010]

She makes a valid point. I am not a diabetic - I am a human being who happens to have diabetes.
There is a lot of stigma about leprosy, as she says, and using the word 'leper' to mean 'outcast' does nothing to help.

[pixie374]

Thanks mamya, then they should just reclaim it, like everyone else does. It isn't an insult to be banned.

[THECORBYLOON]

BARRY, that was the point I made earlier.

[pixie374]

Perserverer, if one of my friends said, "I felt like a leper", I would know exactly what they meant and wouldn't question it. But this should be a formal and accurate definition in public.

[davebro]

No one should be defined by their misfortune to have acquired a disease - Leper/diabetic/consumptive and such terms should not be used other than in a medical context. IMV

[DTCwordfan]

Can't find the article on the DT online...even just to c&p it over so those without subscription can see it. It's largely the same as the Record's- thanks Mamya.

[pixie374]

Thanks, dt. Does make sense really.

[DTCwordfan]

we are all becoming a little too delicate on things like this.....the other article in the DT just above this one, being a young 11 yearold lad was reported to Prevent as his teacher thought he said arms and not alms as in what he said in to response to what they would do if they inherited a lot of money, he would 'give alms to the oppressed'. The fear being now that the comment will be on his records and there's a case out there of a mortgage being turned down because of a Prevent file being recorded and then passed to the credit agencies.

[DTCwordfan]

this one I have found

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/06/27/11-year-old-boy-reported-prevent-teacher-mishears-alms-arms/

[pixie374]

That's a different example. But accuracy isn't "delicacy". You can't take over other people's words and use them to mean whatever you like, so they no longer can. In public, at least, it's worth thinking first.

[Mamyalynne]

I felt such sadness for that young lad when I read that, any teacher with an ounce of sense would know their pupils better - why not ask him to write the word down for example.

[pixie374]

It kind of shows why misunderstandings and inaccuracies can be damaging. Opposite to the OP.

[dannyk13]

As lepers used to placed in colonies they were outcasts and I can not see why it is wrong to call a leper an outcast. Chambers gives the definition of a leper as an outcast.

[davebro]

would you call a covid patient an outcast because they were isolated due to an infectious disease?

[pixie374]

But an outcast isn't a leper. Usually.

[dannyk13]

Dave, there is a vast difference between being confined to a colony and being isolated for a few days.

[naomi24]

Any teacher who doesn’t have the common sense to ask a child what he means before reporting him
shouldn’t be teaching. Disgraceful.

[davebro]

Leprosy is curable - possibly more curable than covid. The only colonies still existing are in India, probably due to lack of adequate treatment and/or ignorance & social stigma.