Friday, October 29, 2021

"Registered Persons" and "Registered Citizens" or a similar term should be in the dictionary

 The Cincinnati Enquirer website's headline story of the morning is, "Merriam-Webster (finally) recognizes Goetta, adds word to the dictionary." 

For the sake of those who have never been to Cincinnati, Goetta is a food item as unique to the Cincinnati Metro area as the famed Cincinnati Chili. Goetta is primarily composed of ground meat (pork, or sausage and beef), pin-head oats and spices. It is often served up into patties, primarily at breakfast, but could be served in sandwiches, burgers, or even pizza. Goetta even gets its own "Glier's GottaFest" every year around late August. 

It seems silly to finally recognize a food item that that has been around for well over a hundred years (the idea was brought by German immigrants in the 1800s), while also adding more recent inventions like "dad bod", "copypasta", and "FTW" (although they failed to mention the more vulgar and favored use, opting to claim it means "for the win" rather than "F**k the World.")

But when it comes to ways to define those convicted of sexual offenses, most people still use the derogatory phrase "sex offender" or one of the more offenseive "P" words. 

In my own writing, I've currently settled on using the terms Registered Person, Registered Citizen, or simply Registrant. Over the years, we've also used ex-sex offender, former offender, or Persons Forced to Register (PFR). It would be to our benefit to come up with a consistent word or phrase to describe people forced to register and listed on a publicly accessible registry. That term must be used consistently and added to the dictionary. 

Unfortunately, when I write letters to the editor, terms I use are sometimes changed to "sex offender," which I feel detracts from the message. 

So what term do YOU prefer? Comment below. 

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