Will stories have to be re-written?
ITHOUGHT I had my finger on the pulse and an awareness of the zeitgeist*. (*The defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time).
To be truthful, I’d never heard the word myself until a week last Thursday when I lost a Scrabble game to someone who got 398 points with it.
As I say, I thought I was pretty much up to date with what’s going on in the world and the hot topics people are discussing.
It turns out I was very much mistaken.
It’s bad enough when you’re mistaken – believe me it’s very much worse when you’re very much mistaken.
The other day I drove to the council rubbish tip even though I didn’t have anything to take there as I’d made the appointment eight months ago and in the meantime burnt my rubbish in a bonfire.
But I didn’t want to disappoint the bloke in the hi-viz jacket on the gate who’d have my name on his list and wouldn’t have been able to put a tick next to it if I was a no-show.
Anyway, someone on my car radio mentioned that serious discussions have been going on for some time in the corridors of power (and maybe the corridors of Powys) about whether the word ‘Mother’ should be replaced by the generic “Person Who Gives Birth”.
Which was news to me. Everyone ever born had a mother and the word is used in many contexts. Will they all have to be changed?
Will married people refer to their “Person Who Gives Birth-in-law”?
And what about children’s stories and Disney cartoons that feature magical Fairy Godmothers?
Will they have to be re-written and re-voiced to refer to “Fairy God-persons Who Give Birth”?
Then there’s The Beatles song “Let It Be”.
Will that have to be re-recorded somehow because it contains the line, “Mother Mary comes to me, seeking words of wisdom!”
What can I say to this other than quote and update Line Of Duty’s Superintendent Ted Hastings’ regular cry of despair . . .
“Person Who Gives Birth . . . Of God! What’s happening?”