'Brown Bag' and 'Citizen' deemed offensive in City of Seattle (Kirkland: city hall, live)

[Andy Patrizio]

I see your PC police are still on duty. But the KOMO editor is not. Fifth graph down, it's "sordid history," not "sorted history." Oh, and that headline...

City officials urge ban on 'potentionally offensive' language | Local & Regional | Seattle News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News | KOMO News

SEATTLE - An internal memo at Seattle City Hall is causing quite a stir. It suggests government workers no longer use the terms "citizen," or "brown bag."

According to the Office for Civil Rights, the terms are potentially offensive and other words should be used.
Moderator cut: snip

[Seeker5in1]

What on earth is their objection to the word "birthday"?!

[Tiger108]

Originally Posted by Seeker5in1

What on earth is their objection to the word "birthday"?!

Jehovah's Witnesses don't celebrate birthdays.

[Ira500]

I don't want to offend anybody by using language they'd find offensive, but doesn't the City Council have anything better to do?

[Haakon]

Lucky for the Brown Bag Cafe that they're in Kirkland so the idiots in Seattle can't shut them down for being "racist".

And people wonder why some can't stand Seattle? It's because the people vote for politicians who do things like this.

[baba_yaga]

We all know its silly, but there are plenty of people out there willing to make a fuss over silly things.

For example, I grew up calling chocolate sprinkles "jimmies." Some of you probably feel that is racist. (Hint: it isn't.)

They do have a concrete point on how the word "citizen" isn't inclusive enough. Not everyone who lives here is a citizen, but the county still seves them.

[Hemlock140]

Originally Posted by Ira500

I don't want to offend anybody by using language they'd find offensive, but doesn't the City Council have anything better to do?

No, this city council has nothing better to do. Yet somehow the citizens - er, residents vote them in.

[angelenogirl]

Originally Posted by Ira500

I don't want to offend anybody by using language they'd find offensive, but doesn't the City Council have anything better to do?

Can you please refer to City Council as "Circle of People from Places"? Thanks in advance.

[mrslovettstailor]

All of its ridiculous. People who have nothing better to do can ALWAYS find something to complain about because they are not otherwise occupied. Some people feel the need to be offended, for attention if nothing else. Righteous indignation can often make people feel important. And as far as the city council they made it clear how many MONTHS and man hours it took to find all these words in different laws so regardless of anyone's opinion it was NOT worth the hundred's of thousands of dollars worth of man hours it took to remove the "offensive" words from paperwork.

And the word "man" is NOT gender specific! When used in words such as freshman or penmanship it means mankind and that is NOT offensive. Anyone who has an issue with it there is something wrong with.

And here is the definition of the word Citizen:
Noun
A legally recognized subject or national of a state or commonwealth, either native or naturalized.
An inhabitant of a particular town or city.
HOW in God's name can that be offensive! It covers BOTH spectrum's of Seattle's inhabitants.

Also it always amazes me how people have issues with any word that might denote color but the word (I hear it thrown around a lot, especially if you are not liberal) is red-neck. Do you KNOW how offensive that is? And not because it is now associated with people of low education and wealth. It originally came from Scotland because when the Scots fought the English--at a time when they were no longer allowed to wear their tartans-- they would paint RED SPOTS on the back of their necks to identify each other in battle. The Scottish were one of your earliest repressed races. They had to do this because their enemies, in order to remove their identity and civilize them, made them give up part of their heritage so they fought to get it back, painting their necks so they didn't kill themselves by accident. The word came to the USA when those who were tired of English oppression jumped the pond and settled in the first available areas--much of it in the mountains and down south where the rich English business had not yet taken over. So as a person of Scottish Heritage I really should be offended when someone uses that word but I am not because it really has nothing to do with me, like so many of these old saying have nothing to do with anyone in this modern age.

[Ira500]

Originally Posted by mrslovettstailor

All of its ridiculous. People who have nothing better to do can ALWAYS find something to complain about because they are not otherwise occupied. Some people feel the need to be offended, for attention if nothing else. Righteous indignation can often make people feel important. And as far as the city council they made it clear how many MONTHS and man hours it took to find all these words in different laws so regardless of anyone's opinion it was NOT worth the hundred's of thousands of dollars worth of man hours it took to remove the "offensive" words from paperwork.

And the word "man" is NOT gender specific! When used in words such as freshman or penmanship it means mankind and that is NOT offensive. Anyone who has an issue with it there is something wrong with.

And here is the definition of the word Citizen:
Noun
A legally recognized subject or national of a state or commonwealth, either native or naturalized.
An inhabitant of a particular town or city.
HOW in God's name can that be offensive! It covers BOTH spectrum's of Seattle's inhabitants.

Also it always amazes me how people have issues with any word that might denote color but the word (I hear it thrown around a lot, especially if you are not liberal) is red-neck. Do you KNOW how offensive that is? And not because it is now associated with people of low education and wealth. It originally came from Scotland because when the Scots fought the English--at a time when they were no longer allowed to wear their tartans-- they would paint RED SPOTS on the back of their necks to identify each other in battle. The Scottish were one of your earliest repressed races. They had to do this because their enemies, in order to remove their identity and civilize them, made them give up part of their heritage so they fought to get it back, painting their necks so they didn't kill themselves by accident. The word came to the USA when those who were tired of English oppression jumped the pond and settled in the first available areas--much of it in the mountains and down south where the rich English business had not yet taken over. So as a person of Scottish Heritage I really should be offended when someone uses that word but I am not because it really has nothing to do with me, like so many of these old saying have nothing to do with anyone in this modern age.

You think we should start a petition drive to change "penmanship" to "penpersonship"?