X-Git-Url: https://git.donarmstrong.com/?a=blobdiff_plain;ds=sidebyside;f=current%2Fr%2Fenable-sup%2Fexpurgat.doc;fp=current%2Fr%2Fenable-sup%2Fexpurgat.doc;h=0000000000000000000000000000000000000000;hb=b13ea8a082364672c6de2b010e558211ff52ec9a;hp=c780d03eb9552134105b4333997e821c4abcb626;hpb=01534a94130c1f5a3a230cf4fe18365a235ba271;p=deb_pkgs%2Fscowl.git diff --git a/current/r/enable-sup/expurgat.doc b/current/r/enable-sup/expurgat.doc deleted file mode 100644 index c780d03..0000000 --- a/current/r/enable-sup/expurgat.doc +++ /dev/null @@ -1,95 +0,0 @@ - EXPURGATING THE ENABLE LISTS -ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜ - - -The ENABLE2K word lists are not filtered or expurgated in any way. Words -are excluded only for reasons of form (e.g., o'clock, DNA) or linguistic -affiliation (e.g., bonjour, ubermensch), but never for reasons of bad -taste (quinine), offensiveness (televangelism) or disreputability -(irregardless). - -Nevertheless, the ENABLE2K compilers recognize that its lists may have -applications in situations where such all-inclusiveness may not be -appropriate. For instance, an ENABLE list may be used in a game program -which might be used by children. The ENABLE2K supplement includes -the MAKELIST program, which allows one to produce a custom word list by -merging one or more or the lists supplied by ENABLE2K and its supplement. -This program offers the option of removing potentially offensive words -from its output, at any of three levels of squeamishness. - -It should be noted that the nature of the English language is such that -complete expurgation of potentially offensive words is impossible, even -ignoring the problem that each individual has his or her own standards of -offense. Many English words have both offensive and inoffensive uses, and -many of these are so common in their inoffensive uses that it would make -no sense to attempt to remove them. Examples of such words are "screw" and -"fairy". The best that one can hope to do is to remove words that are -generally considered offensive, and which do not have common inoffensive -uses. - -Further, the compilers of ENABLE2K can make NO GUARANTEE that the MAKELIST -program will remove all words which might prove offensive in your -application. If the possible presence of offensive words in any ENABLE -list is important to you, it is *your* responsibility to check for such -words and remove them yourself, whether or not you use the MAKELIST -program. And while we have made a serious attempt to determine sets of -words which might reasonably be found offensive, we cannot know the -requirements of your application. In fact, as the legal boys say, we -disclaim any warranty that this package is fit for a particular purpose. - -The MAKELIST program offers you the choice of three levels of expurgation: -Cautious, Aggressive, and Politically Correct. (Of course, you also have -the option of not expurgating at all.) A more detailed explanation of -these options is as follows: - -1. Cautious expurgation attempts to remove patently offensive words, but -does not generally remove words which are not universally agreed to be -offensive, or which have significant inoffensive meanings. (A few words -are so notorious that they are removed despite minor inoffensive uses.) -Almost all of the words removed from the second edition OSPD (r) by -Milton Bradley for OSPD3 fall into this category. However, several very -familiar vulgarities (of the sort still not heard on network television) -are *not* removed at this level. This level of expurgation should be -chosen if the goal is to have expurgation interfere as little as possible -with the completeness of the lexicon. - -2. Agressive expurgation removes additional words that we consider likely -to offend, even if they have inoffensive meanings or are held by some to -be inoffensive. This results in some linguistic anomalies, such as -permitting participles for verbs that have been removed (due to the -offensiveness of their meanings as nouns or adjectives). We believe that -this level of expurgation is most likely to be appropriate for use in -situations involving children. - -3. Politically correct expurgation removes additional words which are -found offensive by some. This list is based primarily on the standards -of the Encarta (r) World English Dictionary, which are much stricter than -those of any other dictionary we have seen. It labels as offensive -many words with which most people seem comfortable, particularly words -associated with mental disability and gender stereotypes. Examples of -words considered offensive by Encarta include "idiotic", "henpeck", -"crone", "slob", "klutz", "wimp" and "weirdo". If you, or your intended -audience, are likely to find such words offensive, then you should choose -this level of expurgation. We find it hard to imagine that this degree of -sensitivity is ever necessary. But then, I'm an able-bodied middle-class -white American male heterosexual baby boomer; of course, I would think -that. (I'm also a "slob" and a "klutz", but we'll let that pass...) - -The process of removing potentially offensive words obviously entails the -existence of lists of such words. These lists, unlike the other ENABLE2K -lists, are not distributed in a readable form. The lists might well, in -themselves, prove offensive, and besides, the last thing we would ever -want to do is to increase anyone's vocabulary of abuse. We of course -recognize this will not prevent anyone who really wishes to ferret out -their contents from doing so. Most attempts to sanitize the English -lexicon are equally futile, a fact which potential users of the ENABLE2K -expurgation option should consider. - - ---- -The OSPD is a trademark of the Milton Bradley Co., Inc. -Encarta is a trademark of the Microsoft Corp. - - - ---Alan Beale