Saturday, August 3, 2013

In Seattle, the terms 'citizen' and 'brown bag' are now offensive

08/03/13

'Citizen' and 'brown bag' are now offensive words, Seattle tells government employees.

Public information officers for the City of Seattle have been advised to stop using the terms "citizen" and "brown bag" -- as in brown-bag lunch -- saying they could be offensive to some city residents.

Elliott Bronstein of the Office for Civil Rights circulated the memo encouraging government employees to avoid using the potentially offensive terms.

Instead of "brown-bag lunch," he suggests "sack lunch" or, for some inexplicable reason "lunch-and-learn," as in, "do you want to go out with us, or are you lunch-and-learning it?"

He defended the recommendation on the radio, saying the term "brown bag" has a sordid history.



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