What would Tolkien have thought of this?

[inzilbeth]

Theonering.net today had a piece about the latest Junior Oxford Dictionary  having removed many traditional, religious and rural words, replacing them with supposedly contemporary,  urban ones. Among those no longer considered of interest to kids are dwarf, elf and goblin.

As Tolkien's first civilian job was working on the Oxford Dictionary, I can't help but wonder what he would have thought of this.

Words taken out:

Carol, cracker, holly, ivy, mistletoe

Dwarf, elf, goblin

Abbey, aisle, altar, bishop, chapel, christen, disciple, minister, monastery, monk, nun, nunnery, parish, pew, psalm, pulpit, saint, sin, devil, vicar

Coronation, duchess, duke, emperor, empire, monarch, decade

adder, ass, beaver, boar, budgerigar, bullock, cheetah, colt, corgi, cygnet, doe, drake, ferret, gerbil, goldfish, guinea pig, hamster, heron, herring, kingfisher, lark, leopard, lobster, magpie, minnow, mussel, newt, otter, ox, oyster, panther, pelican, piglet, plaice, poodle, porcupine, porpoise, raven, spaniel, starling, stoat, stork, terrapin, thrush, weasel, wren.

Acorn, allotment, almond, apricot, ash, bacon, beech, beetroot, blackberry, blacksmith, bloom, bluebell, bramble, bran, bray, bridle, brook, buttercup, canary, canter, carnation, catkin, cauliflower, chestnut, clover, conker, county, cowslip, crocus, dandelion, diesel, fern, fungus, gooseberry, gorse, hazel, hazelnut, heather, holly, horse chestnut, ivy, lavender, leek, liquorice, manger, marzipan, melon, minnow, mint, nectar, nectarine, oats, pansy, parsnip, pasture, poppy, porridge, poultry, primrose, prune, radish, rhubarb, sheaf, spinach, sycamore, tulip, turnip, vine, violet, walnut, willow

Words put in:

Blog, broadband, MP3 player, voicemail, attachment, database, export, chatroom, bullet point, cut and paste, analogue

Celebrity, tolerant, vandalism, negotiate, interdependent, creep, citizenship, childhood, conflict, common sense, debate, EU, drought, brainy, boisterous, cautionary tale, bilingual, bungee jumping, committee, compulsory, cope, democratic, allergic, biodegradable, emotion, dyslexic, donate, endangered, Euro

Apparatus, food chain, incisor, square number, trapezium, alliteration, colloquial, idiom, curriculum, classify, chronological, block graph

 

Comments

[shirebound]

Poodle? Bacon? Spinach? Coronation?

Appalling. :O

[inzilbeth-liz.livejournal.com]

Quite! You do have to wonder at the people working there now.

[calen-greenleaf.livejournal.com]

Dwarf, elf, goblin

Nooooo....Not "elf." :(

[inzilbeth-liz.livejournal.com]

Yes...."elf" too!! I wonder if "ranger" is still OK.

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

I found this to be utterly appalling ... I tried to do a post on it yesterday but I just couldn't find the words (ironic, that!) To think that they consider "MP3 player" to be something a child needs to know over "decade" is beyond my comprehension. And the utter irony of including "endangered" while leaving out "cheetah" has me scratching my head. And the wholesale tossing out of words that reflect historical and religious heritage is very disturbing. I really do worry about the future of our children--I know I'm not British but the same sort of thing goes on here in the US. We're losing touch with our cultural, spiritual and even environmental heritage, thanks to those who would thrust society into a headlong rush into a pursuit of technology over spirituality and humanity. It would appear these editors would have, as Treebeard would put it, minds of metal.

[inzilbeth-liz.livejournal.com]

Both you and Treebeard put it perfectly. This sort of craziness has been going on for decades here. There's always a political motive behind it. In the minds of some, "rural" and "religious" equates with middle class and is therefore to be outlawed. It makes me angry too.

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

Yes, and I've heard "rural and religious" equated to "stupid and uneducated" or even less flattering appellations. *sigh*

[inzilbeth-liz.livejournal.com]

Yeah, not much common sense in there! The sad thing is that so many kids can't identify a single species of bird or name a flower other than a rose. This sort of thing isn't going to help.

[rakshathedemon.livejournal.com]

Spaniels? Poodles? Discrimination against tens of thousands of dog owners!!!

I guess they don't think kids eat almonds or bacon anymore.

Ivy? Guinea pig? Hamster? Brook? Mint?

All removed?

Not to mention the religious stuff; what about the kids who just might be Catholic?

And what the h*ll is a trapezium?

Color me outraged!

[inzilbeth-liz.livejournal.com]

Exactly!

I can understand the need to add more words but to remove so many that, certainly to me, conjure up vivid memories from childhood reading, seems totally disgraceful.

Glad you agree!