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Merriam Webster Dictionary Pulled From Elementary School For Defining Oral Sex; Guess What All The Students Just Found Out About?

News You Could Do Without

from the yeah-good-work,-parents dept

Tue, Feb 2nd 2010 2:14pm — Mike Masnick
Pickle Monger points us to yet another story of overreaction that will clearly backfire in a misguided attempt to "protect the children!" Apparently a parent of a student at Oak Meadows Elementary school in Riverside, California got very upset when she discovered that the schools had copies of the collegiate level Merriam-Websters Dictionary which (gasp!) contained a definition of the phrase "oral sex." Because of that the dictionary was removed from classrooms and a committee was formed to "investigate." Thankfully, the committee concluded that the original dictionary was fine and should be returned to the classroom, but that an alternative dictionary will be provided as well.

Of course, many other parents at the school pointed out how ridiculous it was that the dictionaries were removed in the first place. It's not as if kids will never hear a phrase like that and seek out an answer somewhere. Would parents really prefer that the kids go to Google and do a search on "oral sex," or go to a dictionary instead? Furthermore, this is a definite "Streisand Effect" situation. Now that this story has made the press, you have to imagine that a significantly higher number of elementary school students at Oak Meadows have now heard the term "oral sex" and figured out what it meant.
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Filed Under: dictionaries, oral sex, streisand effect

61 Comments

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  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 2 Feb 2010 @ 2:15pm

    I used to think all the Puritans were long dead.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Poster, 2 Feb 2010 @ 2:21pm

      Re:

      No, they survived by taking on the appearance of normal, free-thinking people.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      ChimpBush McHitlerBurton, 2 Feb 2010 @ 4:12pm

      Re: Porno Parents

      I don't know which bothers me more: The idea that a school would make such a lousy decision to remove a fucking dictionary from the library, or the idea that some kid's parent is lurking in the school library looking up "oral sex" in the dictionary...

      ...Oh wait, come to think of it, I DO know which bothers me more.

      Cweepy.

      CBMHB

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      wizened (profile), 2 Feb 2010 @ 5:12pm

      Re: I used to think all the Puritans were long dead.

      Are you kidding. There are at least 52 million of them at last count. At least if you consider the voting records and returns. (I'm only partly kidding but still kidding.)

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 18 Feb 2010 @ 12:42am

      Re:

      lol

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Irina, 18 Feb 2010 @ 12:45am

      Re:

      I somehow go to this site from the urban dictionary...
      Ironic.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    dwind (profile), 2 Feb 2010 @ 2:20pm

    Schools still have hard cover dictionary's?

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Alan Gerow (profile), 2 Feb 2010 @ 2:23pm

      Re:

      You'd be amazed at how much society has advanced in the past 15 years, but schools are remarkably the same.

      Except for the metal detectors. And armed paramilitary. And drug & bomb sniffing dogs. And random searches.

      But paper dictionaries, blackboards, flags with 48 stars, history books that refer to it as "The Great War" ... those are all still there.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 2 Feb 2010 @ 2:22pm

    Also, we're forgetting the real tragedy: The child whose mother is a moron (and has ruined at least part of his school life).

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Robert Ring (profile), 2 Feb 2010 @ 2:27pm

    Similar story

    A high school teacher of mine once told us that years before us, when he first began teaching at the school, there was a history book the school was using, and in one silly chapter introduction or something like that, there was the word "damn" (used, I believe, in a quote). Of course, no kid is going to go actively read a non-assigned portion of any textbook (much less a history textbook), but nonetheless, the school required all students in that class to give the teacher their book so that he could tear out the offending page and return the book to them. Naturally, every kid suddenly wanted to go read that page before having it torn out.

    Plus ... over "damn"?

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 2 Feb 2010 @ 2:34pm

      Re: Similar story

      In one of my middle school "Reading" class (yes, there was an entire class just for reading), we read a book that happened to contain a chapter that had about 2-3 paragraphs describing animals reproducing (on a farm). Our teacher said something like "Skip chapter ## because it has inappropriate content!"

      So, naturally, everyone read it (and were just as bored as during the rest of the terrible book).

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    dwind (profile), 2 Feb 2010 @ 2:27pm

    I've been away from schools too long.
    Sigh

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Esahc (profile), 2 Feb 2010 @ 2:35pm

    Google

    "go to Google and do a search on "oral sex,""

    And that is why dictionary are still useful.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Dark Helmet (profile), 2 Feb 2010 @ 2:36pm

    Question

    Did the dictionary also happen to include the definition of the word "is"? If so, we could always repurpose it for use in the Clinton Library....

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    aguywhoneedstenbucks (profile), 2 Feb 2010 @ 2:37pm

    Darn Kids

    I agree with removing the dictionary. They should figure it out the old fashioned way like we had to. It was more fun that way.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Dark Helmet (profile), 2 Feb 2010 @ 2:45pm

      Re: Darn Kids

      "I agree with removing the dictionary. They should figure it out the old fashioned way like we had to. It was more fun that way."

      Spoken like someone who never went to Catholic School....

      /sarcasm

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    sehlat (profile), 2 Feb 2010 @ 2:44pm

    What's the fuss about?

    People talk about sex all the time. Isn't that oral sex?

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      ethorad (profile), 3 Feb 2010 @ 4:45am

      Re: What's the fuss about?

      That's what I thought when I was younger. Wish someone had pointed out to me that I could check it in the dictionary!

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 2 Feb 2010 @ 2:53pm

    Merriam Webster Dictionary Pulled From Elementary School For Defining Oral Sex; Guess What All The Students Just Found Out About?

    Did they find out about a new line of hats coming soon from the No Reason To Buy experiment?

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 2 Feb 2010 @ 3:12pm

    :O

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 2 Feb 2010 @ 3:13pm

    bunch of phonies

    Yet nobody legalises drugs.
    Think of the children, drug dealers have no interest in asking for ID's.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 2 Feb 2010 @ 3:20pm

    I think I read about one of these so called "books" recently. From my understanding "books" were used for reading some years back...

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Spanky, 2 Feb 2010 @ 3:39pm

    Question

    So what's it mean?

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 2 Feb 2010 @ 3:47pm

      Re: Question

      Ask The Anti-Mike. He's a good stand-in for an elementary student.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Ben, 2 Feb 2010 @ 3:47pm

    Books are for..

    Burning! ;-)...

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 2 Feb 2010 @ 4:52pm

      Re: Books are for..

      Some books are great kindling for burning book burners.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 2 Feb 2010 @ 4:05pm

    I have to ask ...... why was the mother looking for a definition for oral sex in the first place?

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 2 Feb 2010 @ 4:20pm

    and better yet .... i bet she is a member of some religion.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 2 Feb 2010 @ 4:20pm

    and better yet .... i bet she is a member of some religion.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    PAF56, 2 Feb 2010 @ 5:11pm

    Teach about it YES, but have the word in the dictionary??

    I seems that in a whole bunch of Liberal run Grade Schools and even pre-school and kindergarten, that 'anything goes' as far as being outside the NORMAL bounds of School and training the children.
    In those schools (nay, Liberal/homosexual indoctrination centers for children) GAY sex is taught among other things such as fisting, Islam, Witchcraft etc. but never anything to do with Christianity.
    In those brainwashing academies they have given the terms "Liberal Education" and "Liberal Arts Education" a whole new meaning.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 2 Feb 2010 @ 5:43pm

      Re: Teach about it YES, but have the word in the dictionary??

      I honestly cannot tell whether you're insane, stupid, and wearing a malfunctioning tinfoil hat or a brilliant satirist.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      kevjohn (profile), 3 Feb 2010 @ 9:06am

      Re: Teach about it YES, but have the word in the dictionary??

      HAR HAR! Kudos to you, sir. Your post made me giggle uncotrollably like a gay schoolboy. This was just the shot of humor I needed to get me through a boring morning at work. I do apprecia... Wait, you were serious?!?

      ....BWAHAHA.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      nasch (profile), 3 Feb 2010 @ 11:44am

      Re: Teach about it YES, but have the word in the dictionary??

      I like how he put Islam in the same category as gay sex, fisting and witchcraft with regard to appropriateness of teaching elementary students.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 9 Feb 2010 @ 5:41am

      Re: Teach about it YES, but have the word in the dictionary??

      Troll detected.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    wizened (profile), 2 Feb 2010 @ 5:17pm

    They're burning the wrong books

    If "they" really want to get rid of a book with a lot of inappropriate sexual content "they" really need to collect the Christian Bible. That thing is full of violence, sex of every description, incest and a whole lot of things that "they" say is "shocking". To protect the children, I think we need to start a movement to remove this vile book from all public spaces and libraries. It's for the children. No. Really it is.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Liquid (profile), 3 Feb 2010 @ 5:47am

      Re: They're burning the wrong books

      Yeah but anything that was written in the name of the good lord is ok.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    john, 2 Feb 2010 @ 5:23pm

    Re: Re: Re: Google

    :o~>

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 2 Feb 2010 @ 6:00pm

    Your Mom's a nut ! Haha

    How embarassing for the kids.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 2 Feb 2010 @ 7:13pm

    :-0

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    e100, 2 Feb 2010 @ 8:05pm

    Oral Sex:

    :-}====8

    I'm not that creative, found that here:
    http://www.astro.umd.edu/~marshall/smileys.html

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 2 Feb 2010 @ 10:22pm

    This is exactly why Bill Clinton needed someone to define the word 'sex'. How are we going to better educate the next generation of presidents if we take away more complete books?

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Mr RC (profile), 3 Feb 2010 @ 12:29am

    :-P(())

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Rekrul, 3 Feb 2010 @ 8:57am

    The linked story says that the dictionary contained the "term" and definition for "oral sex". I'm guessing that "oral sex" wasn't the term that set them off. More likely it was either "cunnilingus" or "fellatio".

    Now if it had a definition for "gerbiling" or "bukkake", I might agree that it was inappropriate for younger students. :)

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 3 Feb 2010 @ 6:16pm

    mormons...

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Chucklebutte (profile), 6 Feb 2010 @ 1:58am

    ...

    SKEET SKEET SKEET!

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Lafawnduh, 20 Feb 2010 @ 6:16pm

    people are retarded

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]


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