roget versus microsoft: a tale of two thesauri

[cimorene]

The Microsoft Word thesaurus is really an anti-thesaurus, the exact opposite of Roget's. As writer Mark Goldblatt revealed in a New York Times column last year, Microsoft has sanitized all entries it deems potentially offensive, including words to describe people who aren't exactly Einstein. "Idiot," for instance, is gone completely. Want a synonym for "dummy"? Try mannequin. How about "fool"? The only substitute is the verb "to trick."

Not all thesauri are created equal. In fact, if you rely on the
electronic thesaurus built into the latest version of Microsoft Word,
you're doing a disservice to your writing -- and to the English
language.

The Microsoft Word thesaurus is really an anti-thesaurus, the exact
opposite of Roget's. As writer Mark Goldblatt revealed in a New York
Times column last year, Microsoft has sanitized all entries it deems
potentially offensive, including words to describe people who aren't
exactly Einstein. "Idiot," for instance, is gone completely. Want a
synonym for "dummy"? Try mannequin. How about "fool"? The only
substitute is the verb "to trick."

A Microsoft representative told Goldblatt the selective purging was done
to reflect "current social and cultural environments," and that
"Microsoft's approach is to not suggest words that may have offensive
uses or provide offensive definitions for any words."

Call it political correctness taken to another absurd extreme: Not only
must we refrain from using nouns that define substandard intelligence,
we're also expected to deny such words even exist. It's almost as if
Microsoft believes that eliminating descriptions of stupidity will make
stupidity itself disappear.

Can it really be that Bill Gates is such a fool? Or, as Roget's might
suggest, an idiot, simpleton, witling, dizzard, jackass, ninny,
ninnyhammer, nincompoop, numbskull, chowderhead, chucklehead, dolt,
booby, looby, Tom Noddy, hoddy-doddy, noddy, nonny, nizy, numps, goose,
gaby, imbecile, dullard, dunce, ignoramus, radoteur, lown, sawney, gowk,
jobbernowl, gobemouche, one who will not set the Thames on fire, one who
did not invent gunpowder? (Pete Moore)

Comments

[buddleia.livejournal.com]

That's the kind of political correctness that gets actual political correctness a bad name.

[anatsuno.livejournal.com]

no shit.

wow. my flabber is fucking gasted!

[mircalla35.livejournal.com]

Microsoft has sanitized all entries it deems
potentially offensive.

Well, fuck that!

Seriously. How ridiculous.

[penm.livejournal.com]

One of my friends Ian was typing something about America wanting to go to war and Microsoft did the whole green-underline and the other option was 'did not want' to go to war. I just thought of that when I read this...

[cimness.livejournal.com]

AHAHHAHAHAHAH, priceless!