Thursday, August 14, 2014

Homo-

I'm sure lots of people have heard the news that a gentleman was fired from an English language learner site for an article about homophones.  Evidently, the owner didn't want to be associated with homosexuals.  My first question is why someone who teaches English doesn't know what a homophone is.  That's like a math teacher not knowing the definition of "quotient".

Then there is the inherent homophobia in this firing.  The owner is so afraid of homosexuality that he is disturbed by the use of the "homo-" prefix.  This reminds me of the man that had to quit his job because he used the word "niggardly" and people were offended by its similarity to a taboo word.

Anyway, here's a link to the article.  I enjoyed all the comments about homo sapiens and homogenized milk.

1 comment:

  1. I know- it's crazy that a person gets fired because of a PREFIX. I have never heard anything so stupid. It's like getting into trouble at work for calling someone "testy" because they think you are referring to something else. These words are in the dictionary. They are proscribed parts of speech.

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