Today’s English Lesson

Today’s pet peeve comes via John H at the BHT:

More generally, I think we should also avoid the word “ignorant” in this context, as the word is too much of a value-judgment. First-century people weren’t “ignorant” of what centuries of scientific and medical research have unearthed; they just “didn’t know” it.

“Ignorant of it” means “didn’t know it.” I am ignorant of a great many things – as are you. This is not a value judgment of any kind, it is simple fact. It is only when you define a person as being ignorant as an aspect of his character that it becomes a value judgment. So, can we go back to using words because of what they mean rather than what politicians try to make them mean?

4 thoughts on “Today’s English Lesson”

  1. I’m aware of what the word “ignorant” denotes. It’s just that when discussing how words function in public discourse you have to consider, well, how they function in public discourse.

    And when people’s response to the statement “Jesus was ignorant of modern cosmology” is to say “What?! Are you saying he was some kind of peasant?” then I think it’s worth looking for a term whose connotations are less loaded.

    The meaning of words is determined by how they are used, not by what the dictionary says they “mean”.

  2. Fair enough, John. I’m not really trying to start a war over words here, I just am a stickler for using words properly. I blame my mother. As a result, a little part of me dies every time someone says “oh you can’t use that word because people don’t like it/become uncomfortable/don’t know what it means.” We have so many perfectly good words to articulate what we are saying, and misusing or disusing them for reasons of political correctness or in an appeal to ignorance seems downright Orwellian to me.

    But once again the internet reminds me that people WILL find out when I say something about them, so again, sorry if this seemed unduly harsh. I just happened to be in a grumpy mood when I read this and decided to rant about word choice – no offense was intended to you personally.

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