Webster’s

[JaneV2.0]

I know. Here I live in flyover country and in a fairly red state, and I travel to a red county in a rural area often. And yet here is Jane living in the enlightened PNW and she knows all about these symbols of oppression while I don’t.

I guess we’re here in the land of oppression would appreciate such a guide from the world of the enlightened.

It's not a mystery; I'm a voracious reader who lives in the land of Proud Boys (sic).

[JaneV2.0]

Well at least I was ahead of Jane in passing knowledge of symbology of gangster signs. We had a training session on that, not that it was important for us to learn gang signs but it was deemed important to train library staff about gang presence, how they define their neighborhoods, some examples of neighborhood ownership markers, How members identify and communicate with each other through symbols and colors and etc.

You've got me there; I wouldn't know a gang sign from ASL--honestly. I should investigate...

[LDAHL]

I learned a new term today in the battle over who gets to decide what means what and who gets to decide who can say what: “linguistc gentrification”. Someone used the term “bourgie”, and was taken to task as a “privileged” person using a word belonging to the less privileged. I’m not sure how that doesn’t represent a sort of “linguistic segregation”. Personally, I don’t see how it’s possible for even the most diligent censorship to prevent words from jumping fences in ways they don’t approve of.