And here I was thinking words had meanings...silly me. Sounds like a personal conversation that these so-called editors need to keep out of the edit!TheDC: In July, we learned that a Google search of the word “bigotry” turned up a definition that equated the word to “right-wing.” The sample sentence from the Oxford Dictionary set off a small firestorm of anger by conservatives, who don’t consider themselves bigoted and don’t think it should be part of any dictionary definition of the word.
Well, it seems Merriam-Webster also thinks conservatives are bigots.
A review of Webster’s synonyms and antonyms section of the word reveals the following:
In other words, liberals and progressives are the opposite of bigoted, but anyone related to “conservatism” is.
A source writes in, ”I would imagine millions of impressionable young minds go to this site to find definitions of words for school. This is supposed to be factual reference. This is extremely dangerous and powerful. I wonder what other words they have redefined.”
Rose Martino, associate editor of the unabridged Merriam-Webster.com, apologized for the “unfortunate juxtaposition,” and explained to our source that the real problem is two editors who don’t agree on the issue of bigotry as they claim it relates to conservatives versus liberals.
Pathetic.
