What does language say about where we come from, who we ambition to be?

Elizabeth Pryor suggests people think about the context certain words can carry and how using them could alienate others.

“Language works best when it brings as many people into communication with each other,” she says. “If we know, by using certain language, we’re disinviting certain people from that conversation, language isn’t doing its job.”

(April 11, 2021, cited in https://abc7.com/racism-black-lives-matter-racist-words/6302853/

America’s reckoning with systemic racism forces more critical look at everyday words, phrases that have racist connotations

Americans may unwittingly evoke racism when they use phrases like “sold down the river” for exaggeration, a UC Santa Barbara linguistics expert said.

CNN wire, Eyewitness News)