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Panich52

(5,829 posts) Thu Feb 5, 2015, 12:55 PM Feb 2015

Oxford Kids’ Dictionary Stripped of 50 Nature Words in Favor of Hi-Tech Terms

Kids’ Dictionary Stripped of 50 Nature Words in Favor of Hi-Tech Terms

-snip-

Acorn, bluebell, conker, chestnut, heron, herring, kingfisher, lark, leopard, lobster, magpie, minnow, mussel, newt, otter, ox, oyster, and panther are all gone. In their place: analog, broadband, blog, chatroom, and cut and paste.

Writers Protest the Elimination of Nature

Teachers and authors, including Margaret Atwood, Andrew Motion, Michael Morpurgo and Robert Macfarlane, are criticizing OUP for removing these nature terms and replacing them with hi-tech words. In an open letter to the Oxford University Press, ( http://www.themarysue.com/oxford-junior-dictionary-letter/ ) the writers plead that the next edition sees the reinstatement of words omitted since 2007:

“We base this plea on two considerations [...] Firstly, the belief that nature and culture have been linked from the beginnings of our history. For the first time ever, that link is in danger of becoming unravelled, to the detriment of society, culture, and the natural environment.

Secondly, childhood is undergoing profound change; some of this is negative; and the rapid decline in children’s connections to nature is a major problem.”

Indeed, it would be hard to find a more striking example of our separation from the natural world, and how we are denying children a relationship with wild things.

However, these writers are not protesting choosing technology over nature. Of course, teaching technology to our youngsters is important, but it should not be at the expense of nature. The two can exist, side by side.

Full story:
http://www.care2.com/causes/kids-dictionary-stripped-of-50-nature-words-in-favor-of-hi-tech-terms.html

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What? A kid's dictionary can't get larger? Or has Oxford bowed to right wing so much that nature doesn't count f/ them, or just isn't important?

11 replies

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Oxford Kids’ Dictionary Stripped of 50 Nature Words in Favor of Hi-Tech Terms (Original Post) Panich52 Feb 2015 OP

Could the latest editorial crew over there be... TreasonousBastard Feb 2015 #1

Note to self- Name my next app after one of the following: Acorn, bluebell, conker, chestnut, FSogol Feb 2015 #2

I'm with you shenmue Feb 2015 #3

Kids are using dictionaries? mahatmakanejeeves Feb 2015 #4

I got my grandson a children's dictionary for first grade and . . .he Nay Feb 2015 #9

Yes, a kid's dictionary can't get larger. jeff47 Feb 2015 #5

I know why this happened. The big focus these days is on education for STEM fields stevenleser Feb 2015 #6

the rech twit shallow knowledge mantra olddots Feb 2015 #7

Hey, that's my password. How did you get that? NT mahatmakanejeeves Feb 2015 #10

Here's a real kid's dictionary: MineralMan Feb 2015 #8

pssh, battery-farmed children don't NEED to know no plant-speak! MisterP Feb 2015 #11

TreasonousBastard

(43,049 posts)

1. Could the latest editorial crew over there be...

Reply to Panich52 (Original post)

Thu Feb 5, 2015, 01:00 PM

Feb 2015

a bunch of geeks living in a sterile environment of their own-- to whom then world of nature outside simply never occurs to them?

FSogol

(45,488 posts)

2. Note to self- Name my next app after one of the following: Acorn, bluebell, conker, chestnut,

Reply to TreasonousBastard (Reply #1)

Thu Feb 5, 2015, 01:03 PM

Feb 2015

heron, herring, kingfisher, lark, leopard, lobster, magpie, minnow, mussel, newt, otter, ox, oyster, and panther

shenmue

(38,506 posts)

3. I'm with you

Reply to Panich52 (Original post)

Thu Feb 5, 2015, 01:03 PM

Feb 2015

Don't know why they have to take some out to make room for others. Surely there was room for all the words.

mahatmakanejeeves

(57,488 posts)

4. Kids are using dictionaries?

Reply to Panich52 (Original post)

Thu Feb 5, 2015, 01:04 PM

Feb 2015

I'm surprised to hear that.

True story: I was crossing through an elementary school playground (not while school was in session: it's not what you think), and I noticed cartons of books in the dumpster. They were loaded with dictionaries. I thought, "this shall not stand!" I scavenged the dictionaries. My intent was to wait for the annual rummage sale being held by a church that is across the street from where I live. I would put out the dictionaries with signs saying "Free," and "Gratis." Families would be overcome by emotion as they helped themselves to these free beacons of scholarship.

Wrong. I couldn't give them away. I found three that I still had left over last month, on the weekend of Martin Luther King Day. Even the local Little Free Library took them only reluctantly.

As for me, I was coming back home on my bicycle from shopping the Saturday of that weekend, when I went past the remnants of an estate sale or clean out ahead of moving. Things were spread out in a "help yourself" array. One big item caught my eye - a Webster's Second International dictionary, the one that weighs 16 pounds. I maneuvered it into my backpack and thanked the woman putting things out. She said her sister had one listed on Craigslist - as a decorative item.

But in general, even kids look things up on smartphones. There's probably a study that shows that. I can Google it....

Nay

(12,051 posts)

9. I got my grandson a children's dictionary for first grade and . . .he

Reply to mahatmakanejeeves (Reply #4)

Thu Feb 5, 2015, 02:21 PM

Feb 2015

reads it for fun. AND uses it when he needs it. I realize he's a bit unusual.

jeff47

(26,549 posts)

5. Yes, a kid's dictionary can't get larger.

Reply to Panich52 (Original post)

Thu Feb 5, 2015, 01:06 PM

Feb 2015

That's the point of it being a "kids" dictionary. It is slimmed down so that it's smaller. "Just add these" leads to others wanting to add their favorite words, leading to others wanting their words added, and soon you're at an unabridged dictionary.

The dumb part about this controversy is kids aren't looking in dictionaries. They're going to Google and searching for define:acorn and other such words..