Talk about a nature disconnect, the new Oxford Junior Dictionary has elbowed out a host of nature- and outdoors-related words.
In their place will be a horde of Electronic New Age material.
Thus, blackberry (as in the kind you eat) becomes BlackBerry (the kind you send e-mails on).
Among the nature word jettisoned are acorn, dandelion, heron, holly, ivy, mistletoe, beaver, cheetah, doe, ferret, minnow, mussel, otter, pelican, lobster, oyster, porcupine, raven, starling, violet, tulip, poppy, canary, lavender, clover, and wren.
(As a side: Other, religious words, deleted include chapel, disciple, minister, monk, nun, parish, and psalm.)
In the place of the nature words are those like Blog, broadband, MP3 player, voicemail, attachment, celebrity, Euro, database, export, bullet point, cut and paste, idiom, alliteration, and endangered.
That last one is an ironic tip of the hat to the endangerment of a realistic exploration and understanding of the natural world.
Instead of kids appreciating what these words and symbols mean they'll be more inclined to accept a false ideology based upon emotion rather than scientific truth.
More the pity for this poor world of ours.
- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
jfrischkorn@news-herald.com
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