The popular phrase “Cooking With Gas” has been labeled offensive by the College of Newspeak at Oceana Orwellian University. The dean of the College of Newspeak, Tom Parsons, proclaimed the phrase off limits for several reasons. “First, it is the progeny of industrialist, capitalist greed. It is a phrase pushed by the petroleum industry in an attempt to mainstream use of highly toxic natural gas. Secondly, it is inherently racist because cheap, plentiful natural gas is an easy, economic fuel choice for poor minorities and other marginalized groups. Thirdly, it is disproportionately harmful to women and children who are typically in the home during meal preparation. Forcing minorities to choose immediate existence over long term survival is typical systemic racism. Subjecting women and children to harm has been classic behavior of greedy corporations from the inception of free enterprise.”
House Majority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was blasted for using the phrase in a recent tweet. “House Republicans are certainly cooking with gas” he boasted of their first week’s activity in the 118th U.S. Congress. But McCarthy’s tweet is not likely to be the last use of the phrase on the platform.
Experience shows that word and phrase banning are often nothing more than flash in the pan virtue signals from attention starved organizations. Maureen Callahan of the Daily Mail does a wonderful assessment of word banning that is worth the read. In the end, she suggests willing abandonment of some actual language that does real harm to the public discourse. I couldn’t agree with her more.
