In a world when even the most innocuous words and phrases have somehow been deemed offensive, a wonder we aren’t all walking around with duct tape on our mouths to avoid saying anything at all.
The Associated Press, which makes the grammatical rules by which many news agencies write their pieces, has updated their style guidelines to include an avoidance of “derogatory terms, such as insane, crazy/crazed, nuts or deranged,” telling writers not to use these words “unless they are part of a quotation that is essential to the story.”
“Avoid using mental health terms to describe unrelated issues. Don’t say that an awards show, for example, was schizophrenic,” the AP added.
Do not use derogatory terms, such as insane, crazy/crazed, nuts or deranged, unless they are part of a quotation that is essential to the story.
— APStylebook (@APStylebook) November 10, 2020
Avoid using mental health terms to describe unrelated issues. Don’t say that an awards show, for example, was schizophrenic.
While mocking mental health problems is far from a joke, avoiding otherwise harmless words commonly used to describe something that's outlandish or wild is..well, pretty delusional.
Though I assume we’re not allowed to say that, either.