Brandeis University advises against using 'oppressive language' like 'picnic,' 'trigger warning,' and 'people of color'

Rule of thumb for students at Brandeis University: before you take a stab at carrying on a conversation, make sure you give others a trigger warning to prepare them for the violent language you’re about to use.

There's nothing weird happening in our major institutions, why would you think that? It's not like they're trying to prohibit the use of the word "picnic" https://t.co/jW2lY2rzX6

— Charles Fain Lehman (@CharlesFLehman) June 24, 2021

Sorry, picnics are literal violence now:

"Trigger Warning" is itself now "violent language" https://t.co/Wlin3whhF9 pic.twitter.com/aZqtLvDEYP

— Wesley Yang (@wesyang) June 24, 2021

Maybe Brandeis should just save themselves time and energy and let us know which words and phrases are OK to use. That list would be a whole lot shorter.

So, the inclusion of "picnic" on a list of "violent",
"oppressive" language is based on a falsehood https://t.co/svbqjECdWE

— Wesley Yang (@wesyang) June 24, 2021

Rule of Thumb is another fake etymology.

Biden made a speech spreading this piece of odious misinformation as well https://t.co/ST7bkGiquC

— Wesley Yang (@wesyang) June 24, 2021

https://t.co/Zr44iuQit1 pic.twitter.com/FUhLcgoPtW

— Wesley Yang (@wesyang) June 24, 2021

I can't go for that…https://t.co/m8cCOmqB2P pic.twitter.com/tz3OsoR7PZ

— Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) June 24, 2021

Quality education they’re giving at Brandeis. Real top-notch stuff over there.

Language policing is almost Freudian in how it exposes someone's own disturbing brain connections. It never even occurred to me that saying "no can do" was making fun of poor English, let alone anything Asian. https://t.co/Lfg3M4sMh2

— Noam Blum (@neontaster) June 24, 2021

The picnic thing is 100% made up and it’s absolutely wild to watch this belief spread through society, like a devotion to a new strange god

— Joseph M. Keegin (@fxxfy) June 24, 2021

And the “violent language” list is only one of five lists that make up Brandeis’ master list of “oppressive language.”

We, too, have been oppressed by language. Namely the sort of language that uses language like “oppressive language.”

So is "people of color," apparently. pic.twitter.com/Jb08TKhsLB

— Adaam James Levin-Areddy (@AmsterdamLost) June 24, 2021

“let’s have a family outdoor eating!” 😩

— Perspicuous (@chaos_sonata) June 24, 2021

I like how they suggest “try” for “take a stab at it”, completely ignoring why human languages use idiomatic expressions in the first place.

— Chase Faucheux (@Lefaucheux75) June 24, 2021

This is fantastic. Ever purer, ever purer.

— davidrieff (@davidrieff) June 24, 2021

You’re killing it, Brandeis. And by “it,” we mean the English language.

Good Lord.