A new report revealed that Google sent its UK employees a style guide that bans the use of traditional phrases on the grounds that they do not conform to gender-neutral language or are insensitive.
According to information published by The Sun, the tech giant's developers will now have to relearn how they communicate, even if it means dropping terms frequently used in software coding.
"When referring to a group of people, use non-gendered language," Google demanded, requesting to avoid the English term guys and replace it with options such as everyone or folks.
The company also banned phrases such as "black box," "whitelist," and "black hole," among other terms that used to be used for software work and that now, according to Google, could be insensitive.
Woke Google bosses BAN staff from using everyday phrases | Scotland News | Mon | 1 May | 6:06 | BST https://t.co/otDxwI4Fzw
— TALK (@TalkNewsMedia) May 1, 2023
Criticism of the measure
A worker at the technology company could not hide his annoyance and told the media mentioned above outlet that the guidance could eventually affect work production. "We're much too busy to be worried about whether some totally harmless phrase that's been used for years might upset someone, somewhere," he said.
UK Conservative MP Nigel Mills also joined in the annoyance over Google's decision highlighting that this was nothing more than "woke nonsense." "I don't know where people find the time to come up with this sort of thing. Who cares? We should not be ditching phrases and words used for a generation just because some snowflakes might get impacted," he said.
Google defended itself by assuring that editorial guidelines seek to make developer documentation "clear and consistent." However, this is not the first time the tech giant has faced criticism for such decisions. In the past, it launched an "inclusive language" feature designed to avoid using words they claim are politically incorrect.
