War on words: battles over language
This debate is part of Battle of Ideas Helsinki 2026.
Political and cultural conflicts regarding the meaning of words have become familiar to us all. Words we widely used until recently are being quietly replaced by alienating new ones. For example, a basic word like ‘woman’ has become disputed, meaning that mothers are being relabelled ‘birthing people’ or job titles containing the word ‘man’ are replaced with gender-neutral terms such as ‘fireperson’ or ‘salesperson’. At the same time, loosely defined terms such as ‘hate speech’ are being used to set the limits of acceptable speech, with universities and institutions regularly issuing guidelines on appropriate choice of language to avoid causing offence.
Those who regard these developments as progress often argue that language does not simply describe the world, but also shapes it. Old words can reinforce prejudice, exclude people or offend those they describe. They seem to believe that we can change the world for the better by changing our language, and that new terms can promote safety and equality, respect people’s right to define themselves, and help everyone feel included. Should we worry that – as in Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell’s fictional world of censorship and Newspeak – manipulation of language is occurring with a view to exerting control over what we’re allowed to think and what is considered truth?
Critics argue that words gain their meanings through use and history, not through official decisions or social engineering. Pressuring people to adopt new words and concepts can make language clumsy and unclear, remove useful distinctions, and replace shared ideas with terms shaped by ideologies. They think that changing the world is not a matter of changing words or redefining their meanings.
But who gets to decide which words are acceptable, and when does that power become a form of social control or censorship? And ultimately, are we witnessing a war on words, or is this merely a moral panic driven by the culture wars?
