Words Keep Changing! “Man” and “Woman” Get Another Update
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
Recently, the Oxford English Dictionary updated the words “Man” and “Woman.” Previously, Woman was defined as “a man’s wife, girlfriend or lover.” It has been changed to mean “a person’s wife, girlfriend, or lover” (emphasis mine). Similarly, Man has been changed to mean “a person’s husband, boyfriend, or lover.”
The first thing that stands out to me is that these changes will by no means appease the tyrannical Leftist / LBGTQ mob. (Note: I’m not saying that all LGBTQ people act this way.)
Specifically, I believe the T’s will demand more. See how the definition acknowledges that any “person” can have a wife, girlfriend, or lover. However. the use of the word’s wife / girlfriend and husband / boyfriend in the respective definitions leaves the gender binary intact! There is no way that T’s will stand for this. Once you attempt to appease the mob, you cannot go back lest you risk your head! French Revolution anyone?
if Oxford English Dictionary wanted to be consistent, the definitions might soon read as follows:
Man
1) a person’s lover of no specific binary affiliation
2) Derogatory a person’s lover who is biologically male
Woman
1) a person’s lover of no specific binary affiliation
2) Derogatory a person’s lover who is biologically female
Mentions of “husband” and “wife” will be taken out and each of those words will get their own redefinitions and trigger warnings.
Conservatives and Christians need to stand up for the proper use of language. Included in the proper use of language is recognition of the slow change of language. Calling a word offensive does not an offense make. Changing a definition does not instantly, as if by magic, change the way people use a word. A dictionary is meant to be descriptive; it tells us what is. However, the modern Orwellian approach has been the make the dictionary prescriptive; they tell was what to think and say. (See another recent example by a different dictionary here.)
Michael Knowles, a commentator for the Daily Wire, explains very succinctly that if you control the language, you control the culture. For the history of the world in most places, marriage has generally meant an intimate, covenantal union between a man and a woman (or, in many unfortunate cases, a man and multiple women). Since we have lost the standard the definition of marriage, it can mean anything if the media pushes it hard enough.
The leftist activists and media, which has definitive leftist bent in general, cares much more about the narrative than the truth. Reporting the narrative is attempting to change what people believe is the popular story about a topic. This story is used to persuade and convince.
Reporting the truth is simply communicating what is right, correct, and factual about a topic to the best of one’s ability. We live in a time where people will “not tolerate sound doctrine” (II Timothy 4:3). The context of that passage of Scripture is refereeing to Christian teaching. However, not only do more and more people seem to hate the Truth of Christ (or at least seem to be more outspoken), more and more seem to deny the truths of nature and natural revelations and the history of language.
Paul the Apostle was ultimately executed for claiming that the Gentiles were to be grafted into the people of God (Ephesians 3:1–6). As the Western culture becomes more and more dominated by a hatred for all truth, we will live and die by what we say. We must be able to defend the truth with love. God willing, there will be a revival, a turnaround back to reason and revelation, but Christians must be prepared for the opposite.
Mitchell D. Cochran is from Midland, Texas and is a graduate of Lubbock Christian University where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. He is currently attending Calvary University for his Master of Arts in Biblical Counseling. Mitchell currently resides in Lubbock, Texas with his wife Katherine.
