Dictionary.com announces it will capitalize the word 'Black,' among other updates...

[posty 2,849]

Jesus...

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/dictionary-com-announces-capitalize-word-120442472.html

As the Black Lives Matter movement has picked up momentum around the nation in recent months, companies like Dictionary.com are paying more attention to language use and redefining words that reflect culture, identity and race.

"The work of a dictionary is more than just adding new words. It’s an ongoing effort to ensure that how we define words reflects changes in language -- and life," said John Kelly, senior editor at Dictionary.com.

As a mark of respect and recognition, Dictionary.com announced in a press release Tuesday that it has updated its language to include capitalizing the word "Black." The word also is now a separate entry, as it refers to a person, breaking with dictionary conventions to group together words that share the same origin.

"We broke that rule because it has real world consequences," Kelly told ABC News. "These have real effects on people's social identities, these meanings are personal."

Other major organizations have recently had similar thinking.

Over the summer, The Associated Press and The New York Times each announced their style changes to capitalize the word Black when referring to race or culture. Meanwhile, Black media outlets such as Essence and Ebony have been leading the way on this change for years.

Kelly explained that the word "Black" does not just refer to the color of one's skin but also African ancestry, noting that "it is important to not lump the term into one category."

Other words added to Dictionary.com regarding race and ethnicity include Afro-Latina, Afro-Latino, Afro-Latinx, Filipina, Filipinx, Pinay, Pinoy and Pinxy. The racially offensive terms "brownface" and "whitesplain" were also added.

"As our understanding of race continues to evolve, 'brownface' warranted an entry that was distinct from blackface," Kelly told ABC News.

Along the identity lines, LGBTQIA language was revised to better reflect the complexity and richness of the experiences of those identities and help eliminate heterosexual bias as the unmarked, default experience, according to the press release. Related terms with revised or new definitions also include bisexual, pansexual and Pride, which is now a separate entry and capitalized in relevant references.

Overall, Dictionary.com updated more than 15,000 entries across its website in the company's largest new words release to date, including 650 new entries as well as thousands of new and revised definitions, etymologies and pronunciations. The company said the changes reflect its "point of view that language entries have consequences and go beyond being simply an academic exercise."

[RaiderHaters Revenge 4,581]

wow, you would think a dictionary would just like you know have definitions of words

 

[posty 2,849]

1 minute ago, RaiderHaters Revenge said:

wow, you would think a dictionary would just like you know have definitions of words

 

I know, right?

[Gladiators 2,035]

Are all the other colors capitalized? If so, I’m good with it.

[BiffTannen 1,262]

1 minute ago, Gladiators said:

Are all the other colors capitalized?

The other colors are busy working and obeying the law. No time to worry about it. 

[posty 2,849]

9 minutes ago, Gladiators said:

Are all the other colors capitalized? If so, I’m good with it.

Of course not...

[FlyinHeadlock 459]

Will Crayola do Black and Brown or just Black. I hope it's just Black in a special compartment on top of the box and with it's own sharpener. 

[posty 2,849]

It won't be capitalized when it shows black people in a bad light... 

[Cdub100 3,996]

“Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.”

[posty 2,849]

Just now, Cdub100 said:

“Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.”

[TBayXXXVII 2,679]

43 minutes ago, posty said:

It won't be capitalized when it shows black people in a bad light... 

They won't have to.  In these scenario's, they'll do exactly what the media does... remove the word "black".

[posty 2,849]

8 minutes ago, TBayXXXVII said:

They won't have to.  In these scenario's, they'll do exactly what the media does... remove the word "black".

Well there is that as well...

[Alias Detective 1,474]

1 hour ago, posty said:

Jesus...

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/dictionary-com-announces-capitalize-word-120442472.html

As the Black Lives Matter movement has picked up momentum around the nation in recent months, companies like Dictionary.com are paying more attention to language use and redefining words that reflect culture, identity and race.

"The work of a dictionary is more than just adding new words. It’s an ongoing effort to ensure that how we define words reflects changes in language -- and life," said John Kelly, senior editor at Dictionary.com.

As a mark of respect and recognition, Dictionary.com announced in a press release Tuesday that it has updated its language to include capitalizing the word "Black." The word also is now a separate entry, as it refers to a person, breaking with dictionary conventions to group together words that share the same origin.

"We broke that rule because it has real world consequences," Kelly told ABC News. "These have real effects on people's social identities, these meanings are personal."

Other major organizations have recently had similar thinking.

Over the summer, The Associated Press and The New York Times each announced their style changes to capitalize the word Black when referring to race or culture. Meanwhile, Black media outlets such as Essence and Ebony have been leading the way on this change for years.

Kelly explained that the word "Black" does not just refer to the color of one's skin but also African ancestry, noting that "it is important to not lump the term into one category."

Other words added to Dictionary.com regarding race and ethnicity include Afro-Latina, Afro-Latino, Afro-Latinx, Filipina, Filipinx, Pinay, Pinoy and Pinxy. The racially offensive terms "brownface" and "whitesplain" were also added.

"As our understanding of race continues to evolve, 'brownface' warranted an entry that was distinct from blackface," Kelly told ABC News.

Along the identity lines, LGBTQIA language was revised to better reflect the complexity and richness of the experiences of those identities and help eliminate heterosexual bias as the unmarked, default experience, according to the press release. Related terms with revised or new definitions also include bisexual, pansexual and Pride, which is now a separate entry and capitalized in relevant references.

Overall, Dictionary.com updated more than 15,000 entries across its website in the company's largest new words release to date, including 650 new entries as well as thousands of new and revised definitions, etymologies and pronunciations. The company said the changes reflect its "point of view that language entries have consequences and go beyond being simply an academic exercise."

How high on the pecking order is dictionary.com on the give a skat list?  I mean, if Webster does it, that’s a big deal, but this random website.  Oh well.

[Utilit99 4,099]

So if I'm in 5th grade English class, and I write a sentence in a report that goes like this:

"When my mother asked me what color bike I wanted, I told her black."

Do I get points off for not capitalizing the 'b' in black?

 

[Thornton Melon 653]

My car is Black. Boy, do I feel special now.

[Mookz 1,388]

4 hours ago, Utilit99 said:

So if I'm in 5th grade English class, and I write a sentence in a report that goes like this:

"When my mother asked me what color bike I wanted, I told her black."

Do I get points off for not capitalizing the 'b' in black?

 

Only if she owns a..."helper".