This is kind of reasonable, but I think it should be rounded-off to ignored – in this case.
In general, language is ‘merely reasonable’ – it’s always a bit Humpty-Dumpty.
I don’t think the use of any phrase, historical or not, could be considered explicit reference of its “context”.
Even words like ‘family’, historically, sometimes referred to the ‘servants’ (and slaves) of a household. But it seems reasonable to continue using ‘family’ – the common agreement of English speakers/listeners/writers/readers is that’s perfectly okay and unobjectionable.
Or maybe you’re right? ‘delenda est’ is very different from ‘family’. There really aren’t any other uses or interpretations beyond, at most, metaphorical violence. I certainly don’t like (some) other violent words or phrases (sometimes), even when they’re obviously metaphorical. And it’s not obviously wrong to think that avoiding ‘violent’ language might be net-good anyways.
But this post was cross-posted from the author’s personal blog and is a (mildly) contentious exception to the kinds of posts that are normally considered worth listing on the ‘front page’ of the site. Because of that, I’m still inclined to let this pass.
But I’ve definitely changed my mind about the phrase being entirely innocuous.
This is kind of reasonable, but I think it should be rounded-off to ignored – in this case.
In general, language is ‘merely reasonable’ – it’s always a bit Humpty-Dumpty.
I don’t think the use of any phrase, historical or not, could be considered explicit reference of its “context”.
Even words like ‘family’, historically, sometimes referred to the ‘servants’ (and slaves) of a household. But it seems reasonable to continue using ‘family’ – the common agreement of English speakers/listeners/writers/readers is that’s perfectly okay and unobjectionable.
Or maybe you’re right? ‘delenda est’ is very different from ‘family’. There really aren’t any other uses or interpretations beyond, at most, metaphorical violence. I certainly don’t like (some) other violent words or phrases (sometimes), even when they’re obviously metaphorical. And it’s not obviously wrong to think that avoiding ‘violent’ language might be net-good anyways.
But this post was cross-posted from the author’s personal blog and is a (mildly) contentious exception to the kinds of posts that are normally considered worth listing on the ‘front page’ of the site. Because of that, I’m still inclined to let this pass.
But I’ve definitely changed my mind about the phrase being entirely innocuous.