September 28, 1920 gave rise to one of the most famous quotes in sports history. That was the day Chicago White Sox baseball player “Shoeless Joe” Jackson admitted he and other team members took bribes to lose the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. Allegedly, within the crowd of fans who had gathered outside the courthouse where Jackson testified, a heartbroken young boy approached him as he exited the building pleading, “Say it ain’t so, Joe!”
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While the term “woke” arose in the mid-20th century to describe and keep alive within the public eye the claim of racism toward black America, leftist groups have over-extended its usage to the far reaches of society. Today, it includes the most ridiculous claims in an effort to undermine basic common sense and, as such, has developed a negative connotation. The recent examples of wokeness by a British agency responsible for recreational maritime safety underscores this, causing the shaking of one’s head in total disbelief, pleading, “Say it ain’t so!”
Britain’s Royal Yachting Association (RYA) is the national governing body for operational safety rules related to dinghy, motor, and sail cruising, and the leading representative body for inland waterways cruising in the UK. Created in 1875, its focus is supposed to be on water safety-related issues—but it appears to consider within this responsibility a need to promote changing historically genderistic terms into non-genderistic ones. One of these offensive terms identified is “man overboard.”
RYA claims that more inclusive language is needed to recognize the “honours and values” of women and non-binary people who are involved in sailing. It promotes as an alternative to “man overboard” the phrase “person in water.” They’re mandating a longer phase in a time of emergency— “man overboard” has four syllables, “person in water” has five—and one can only imagine how upset a victim falling overboard would feel if the non-inclusive phrase were used.
Critics have not hesitated to condemn the term change as “balderdash,” suggesting a “turning in their graves” by old seafarers and sailors.
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Apparently at wit’s end in cleansing the gendered vocabulary used by its members, RYA has also recommended avoiding the use of words like “seamanship”—opting instead for “boat handling,” “navigation,” “deck work,” or “maintenance” as replacements—and, instead of “sportsmanship” you are to use “sporting behaviour.” Additionally, “winchman” should be replaced with “person on the winch” or “winchperson.” Now that you understand how this RYA namegame is played, it should not be difficult to guess what RYA seeks as an alternative to the term “helmsman:” it simply becomes “helm.”
Perhaps in an effort to show a deference to males based on a term with a female connotation, the RYA also proposes eliminating usage of the term “mother duties”—which inappropriately suggest cooking and cleaning duties on board fall only to women. In its place, the term “cooking and cleaning duties” is deemed inclusive.
These RYA term changes tempt one to shout “balderdash!” However, one is reluctant to do so for fear that the word “bald” therein might suggest male exclusivity.
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