Sunday, November 13, 2005

Tube tips for women

Hot on the heels of Hull City Council's problem with "ladies", comes another issue that concerns language and the representation of women. The government has recently produced a document (reproduced below in images) giving women tube travellers advice on a range of personal safety issues, like, umm, always carry a cereal bar with you and don't use your party shoes to wedge a carriage door open.

Zoe Williams, writing in yesterday's Guardian Weekend, takes issue with not only the graphology of the leaflet but its patronising lexical choices, arguing that the whole leaflet is demeaning and outrageous.


A storm in a teacup, or a reasonable cause to complain? You can decide...


 

Useful for:
ENA1 - Language & Representation
By at

Black British English vs MLE

The latest episode of Lexis is out and it features an interview with Ife Thompson about lots of issues connected to Black British English, i...

  • NEA Commentary
    As part of the Original Writing section of the NEA, students will be required to produce a commentary on their piece. This blog post will pr...
  • Tackling the NEA Language Investigation
    As lots of students are embarking on the Language Investigation part of the Non-Exam Assessment, I thought it might be handy to pick up a fe...
  • World Englishes
    When Dan asked what he should post about next on this blog, one of the most common responses was this, the World Englishes topic.   Maybe ...