Who knew kiddie dictionaries were so controversial?
First Christians were peeved because the Oxford Junior Dictionary removed words such as "bishop" and "abbey." But they also removed "beaver", "heron" and "magpie."
I could maybe see getting rid of magpie. Other than Heckle and Jeckle, one doesn't encounter too many magpies, and as far as I know, Heck and his homie are not in heavy Saturday morning rotation. But otter? Not that I see them in the wild but otters are at the zoo. They're on Bob the Builder all the time. Plus they're cute.
It's the same problem as before. The publishers took out the nature words in favor of "modern" terms like mp3 player. My feeling on this hasn't changed — it's a dumb move. But it does show that, despite what some in England were saying, that the changes are not an attack on the Christian faith. It's just plain stupid.
Methinks some smart publisher could step in with a better kid-friendly dictionary and take away some of Oxford's business. I know I won't be buying a dictionary that thinks mp3 players are more important than otters.
Source: Canadian Press via Google News
Image: Amazon.com
Read more:
Christian Words Removed From Oxford Junior Dictionary
