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The League of Human Rights asks the French Academy to correct the definition of several words in its dictionary

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The League of Human Rights asks the French Academy to correct the definition of several words in its dictionary

The Human Rights League (LDH) asks “urgently rectify” the definition of several words from the new dictionary of the French Academy such as “black”, ” breed “ or even ” women “ and said “consternation” of this vision of the world as described in the work.

The LDH discovered “with amazement and dismay that many definitions contribute, at best, to an archaic view of our world”The organization denounced it in a press release on Tuesday, November 26. “The treatment of racism, plagued by problems in the world we live in”This “amazing”continues about the dictionary, whose ninth edition was solemnly presented to the president, Emmanuel Macron, on November 14.

There ” breed “ This is defined in the dictionary as “each of the large groups among which the human species is superficially distributed according to the distinctive physical characteristics that have been maintained or have appeared in each of them, due to their geographical isolation for prolonged periods”. in the word ” YELLOW “ We can also read that it is about“a person or population characterized in particular by yellow or copper skin pigmentation, as opposed to black and white”the LDH is outraged.

Also read: Article reserved for our subscribers. “Why it is urgent to update our spelling”

“Discriminatory or pejorative”

The association also highlights the presence of the word “black”which in the online dictionary refers to “little black boy”or that of “Negroid” as a person who presents “some of the morphological characteristics of black populations”. “No distance is marked with these entries, none of them are denounced as discriminatory or derogatory”observes the LDH, which asks “urgently rectify” this edition.

In another record, the woman is “a human being defined by his sexual characteristics that allow him to conceive and have children”points out the LDH. “Should we conclude that an infertile or menopausal woman is not? »he wonders. It also points out the definition of heterosexuality, which is described as a relationship “natural” between the sexes; “which implies that homosexuality is not”deduces the LDH.

Contacted by Agence France-Presse, the French Academy did not immediately respond. The entries in the current edition of the dictionary have been written, in alphabetical order, over the last forty years.

During a press conference that followed the solemn delivery of the dictionary, the Academy announced that it was considering the possibility of modifying, in the online version, certain definitions without waiting for the new examination of the word in question, which is normally done from A . to Z.

Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers. How the French language is enriched with terms like “morbid displacement” or “childhood overexposure”

The world with AFP

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