Thursday, June 26, 2008



English Council bans "brainstorming"

We read:
"A council has banned the term `brainstorming' - and replaced it with `thought showers.' Officials Tunbridge Wells Borough Council in Kent feared the phrase might offend epileptics or the mentally ill. Staff have been sent memos about the change and even sent on training courses, reports The Sun.

But Margaret Thomas, of the National Society for Epilepsy, said: `Brainstorming is a clear and descriptive phrase. Alternatives such as `thought shower' or `blue-sky thinking' are ambiguous to say the least. Any implication that the word `brainstorming' is offensive to epileptics takes political correctness too far."

Source

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Old story....about 4 years old. I know because it was erased as being "off-topic"

Anonymous said...

I knew this was an old article, but four years old. There was a follow-up last week when a national board of whoever makes such rules in England said "enough is enough" start speaking in plain English and get over your PC hide-behind-the-bureaucratic BS.

Did not appear to be aimed specifically at this one incident, but included it along with several others.

While I whole heartedly applaud the position, and who is to say it will be taken to heart, but if it does I will miss the constant proof by their actions that the stupidity of PC is perpetuated by clueless people.

Maybe someone with more time can find the link to the new article.

Anonymous said...

Usually, the best cure for those who subscribe to political correctness is to wait until they can no longer hide or deny their own stupidity.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like someone overthere had a brain-fart!

Mobius

Anonymous said...

A brain-fart yes, brains no!