Look it up...

I heard about something on the radio last night, but just couldn't believe it. So, this morning, first thing, I did a little google search, and sure enough, there it was.

It seems that the Oxford Junior Dictionary has dropped several words from the dictionary.  

I am not going to attempt to repeat the entire article I read, the writer at the Christian Post did a great job of summarizing the story (go figure, a professional writer).  Instead, I will give you a taste, and then point you in the direction of the full article.

Some of the words that were dropped:

"bishop," "chapel," "disciple," "minister," "sin," and "devil"

Some of the words that were added:

"blog," "biodegradable," "MP3 player," "democratic," and "celebrity"

As much as I like to blog, should it really replace "disciple"?!?

Here is another little clip from the article:

The decision by OUP to discontinue particular words is a form of "verbal engineering," Erin Manning recently wrote on Beliefnet’s conservative Crunchy Con blog.

Manning cited Catholic moral theologian William Smith as saying, "All social engineering is preceded by verbal engineering."

"Deciding to drop a word that has already fallen out of use, become obsolete, from a dictionary is not a political act," said Manning on Monday, "but removing words still in everyday use just because you've decided they ought not be important in the vocabulary of a modern child most decidedly is."

Here is the full article, in case you were wanting to read the rest.  I do feel a little nervous about talking about it.  I wonder if big brother is watching.  I make a promise to all of my readers (all two of you) that I will refuse to adopt the newspeak on this blog as long as I can hold out!