"Hunt you down"

[downer]

Helpful suggestions for avoiding hunting language ... https://www.peta.org/teachkind/lesson-plans-activities/animal-friendly-idioms/

That was cute.

I remember being told that I was not meant to use the phrase "rule of thumb" because it derives from a guideline about the width of the stick with which a husband can beat his wife. I was not convinced that avoiding the phase does any good.

[Caracal]

I remember being told that I was not meant to use the phrase "rule of thumb" because it derives from a guideline about the width of the stick with which a husband can beat his wife. I was not convinced that avoiding the phase does any good.

Like most of these claims, this is a folk etymology and not true. As you'd expect, the phrase seems to come from the notion that various measurements could be approximated with the thumb.

[mamselle]

Actually, it's in English law.

And I avoid its use for just that reason.

M.

[Wahoo Redux]

Actually, it's in English law.

And I avoid its use for just that reason.

M.

I thought so too.

If you look it up, however, it appears that it was never codified law but a very occasional phrase that caught on in contemporary society as a rallying cry against domestic abuse. 

[pepsi_alum]

I guess I'm somewhere in the middle here. If a colleague approached me to say they were bothered by metaphorical expressions like "hunt you down" or "caught in the crosssfire" for personal reasons and to ask that I be more mindful about my language choices around them, I would do my best to adjust. But I can also see why people would react defensively if the person's first response was to make a formal complaint to a department chair without discussing it with the sender first. 

[Caracal]

Actually, it's in English law.

And I avoid its use for just that reason.

M.

I thought so too.

If you look it up, however, it appears that it was never codified law but a very occasional phrase that caught on in contemporary society as a rallying cry against domestic abuse.

Yeah, to summarize, the phrase had been around for quite a while and was apparently attested as far back as 1692 in a context that had nothing to do with domestic abuse. Critics of an 18th century English judge claimed he had ruled that wife beating was acceptable if the stick wasn't bigger than his thumb, but nobody talked about this as a rule of thumb. It isn't even clear there was such a ruling, and it certainly wasn't part of English Common Law. It was actually cited by a couple of judges in the 19th century, but again, nobody talked about rule of thumb. A feminist scholar in the 1970s referred to the idea of this ruling and she sardonically referred to it as a rule of thumb, but wasn't saying that was where the phrase came from and the misunderstanding took off from there.

[secundem_artem]

Actually, it's in English law.

And I avoid its use for just that reason.

M.

I thought so too.

If you look it up, however, it appears that it was never codified law but a very occasional phrase that caught on in contemporary society as a rallying cry against domestic abuse.

Yeah, to summarize, the phrase had been around for quite a while and was apparently attested as far back as 1692 in a context that had nothing to do with domestic abuse. Critics of an 18th century English judge claimed he had ruled that wife beating was acceptable if the stick wasn't bigger than his thumb, but nobody talked about this as a rule of thumb. It isn't even clear there was such a ruling, and it certainly wasn't part of English Common Law. It was actually cited by a couple of judges in the 19th century, but again, nobody talked about rule of thumb. A feminist scholar in the 1970s referred to the idea of this ruling and she sardonically referred to it as a rule of thumb, but wasn't saying that was where the phrase came from and the misunderstanding took off from there.

If heuristic was not so hard to spell, we would not be having this conversation.

As to the OP's post,as far as I am concerned, the person involved is being hypersensitive.  Does "the war on drugs" or "I feel beaten down" or "That was a great shot to win the game!" result in the same clutching of the pearls for purported violent imagery? 

[mamselle]

I didn't have time to put on my pearls---or a hand free to clutch them with--in the hour and a half it took me to lose my pursuing spouse and decoy him away from the safe house I was staying at.

If having someone hide and wait for you outside your place of employment, having them follow you as you walked to the subway, tried to change for another one, saw them catch up to you at the next stop, and follow you again from bus to train to another bus again--until he finally gave up because he'd just about figured it out--isn't being hunted down, I don't know what is.

It certainly felt like it.

I had to tell the people at the house what had happened, and leave early the next day, to go stay someplace else, because they didn't want him coming around and blowing the house's cover.

Do you understand now?

Some people's truth just isn't like your truth, and you'd do well to respect that.

M.

[mahagonny]

I don't mean to stir up shit here, but reading Marshwiggle for as long as I have has trained to consider more unlikely scenarios and insert them into the questions, sort of like mental exercising. (If anyone gets mad, blame me, not him.) For example, what would talking be like if we had to figure out how to avoid any language that triggers fear in the schizophrenic or the paranoid? They've done nothing to deserve their hypersensitivity, and we all know it can be present in most any larger group.

[writingprof]

Helpful suggestions for avoiding hunting language ... https://www.peta.org/teachkind/lesson-plans-activities/animal-friendly-idioms/

As a man of the right, I'm thrilled to see this, as it reminds me that my political opponents are idiots and will always lose in the end. 

Also, PETA, your children will call you bigots for suggesting that we should use the phrase "spill the beans."  Beans have rights, too.

[marshwiggle]

Helpful suggestions for avoiding hunting language ... https://www.peta.org/teachkind/lesson-plans-activities/animal-friendly-idioms/

As a man of the right, I'm thrilled to see this, as it reminds me that my political opponents are idiots and will always lose in the end. 

Also, PETA, your children will call you bigots for suggesting that we should use the phrase "spill the beans."  Beans have rights, too.

Just ask
The Arrogant Worms.

[mahagonny]

Helpful suggestions for avoiding hunting language ... https://www.peta.org/teachkind/lesson-plans-activities/animal-friendly-idioms/

As a man of the right, I'm thrilled to see this, as it reminds me that my political opponents are idiots and will always lose in the end. 

Also, PETA, your children will call you bigots for suggesting that we should use the phrase "spill the beans."  Beans have rights, too.

Or we will all lose, because the nitpicking about insensitive language paves the way for someone like Donald Trump to turn being a lout into a character asset.

[ciao_yall]

A colleague was taken to task recently for use of the term "Underwater Basket Weaving" because it mocked the importance of basket weaving in certain indigenous cultures.

Discuss.

[apl68]

I guess I'm somewhere in the middle here. If a colleague approached me to say they were bothered by metaphorical expressions like "hunt you down" or "caught in the crosssfire" for personal reasons and to ask that I be more mindful about my language choices around them, I would do my best to adjust. But I can also see why people would react defensively if the person's first response was to make a formal complaint to a department chair without discussing it with the sender first.

This, I think, gets to the heart of the issue.  Most people of goodwill are surely ready to avoid using language that will hurt somebody else's feelings if they're made aware of it--even if they can't quite understand what the issue is.  But if the offended one's response comes across as disproportionate, or if it happens often enough that one starts to feel that one is constantly walking on eggshells, the goodwill is going to start evaporating.  I learned a long time ago to show others the grace of letting things slide.  Playing the language cop needs to be reserved for the most necessary occasions.  If we don't pick our battles carefully, we've going to find ourselves embroiled in them constantly.

[Caracal]

I didn't have time to put on my pearls---or a hand free to clutch them with--in the hour and a half it took me to lose my pursuing spouse and decoy him away from the safe house I was staying at.

If having someone hide and wait for you outside your place of employment, having them follow you as you walked to the subway, tried to change for another one, saw them catch up to you at the next stop, and follow you again from bus to train to another bus again--until he finally gave up because he'd just about figured it out--isn't being hunted down, I don't know what is.

It certainly felt like it.

I had to tell the people at the house what had happened, and leave early the next day, to go stay someplace else, because they didn't want him coming around and blowing the house's cover.

Do you understand now?

Some people's truth just isn't like your truth, and you'd do well to respect that.

M.

This is a good reminder. I find it frustrating how these discussions get bogged down in all this rhetoric about political correctness, speech policing and why Donald Trump won. I don't love all the jargon around "trigger warnings" because I think it tends to muddle the basic point, which is that being thoughtful about the experiences of others is always important.

That said, unless there is more to this story, making a formal complaint is also a failure of kindness and understanding. It is a common idiom and in the context it was being used, it is hard to imagine there was any intent to upset anyone. There are obviously things that are so generally recognized as offensive and out of bounds where this wouldn't apply, but this isn't one of them.