language police en · NOUN
Meanings
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(derogatory, informal, uncountable) Any person or group crusading for a particular usage or omission within a language.
the methods and fervor of the self-appointed language police can lead to a rigid orthodoxy -- and unintentional self-parody -- opening the movement to the scorn of conservative opponents and the mockery of cartoonists and late-night television hosts. [...] the utopian world envisioned by the language police would be bought at the expense of the ideals of individualism and democracy articulated in the "The Gettysburg Address": "Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."
1993 January 31, Michiko Kakutani, “The Word Police”, in New York Times:Students lose out when the language police ignore the distinction between using offensive words and discussing them.
2022 February 7, Conor Friedersdorf, “The Educators Who Decided That Context Doesn’t Matter”, in The Atlantic:
Synonyms
tongue troopers · language cops
Translations (12)
cmn 語言警察 /语言警察 (language police) · fr police de la langue (language police) · ca policia lingüística (language police) · id polisi bahasa (language police) · sv språkpolis (language police) · ja 言語警察 (language police) · et keelepolitsei (language police) · de Sprachpolizei (language police) · fi kielipoliisi (language police) · cy heddlu iaith (language police) · he משטרת לשון (language police) · ru языкова́я поли́ция (language police)