Hot Air Reports: Nicholas Kristof isn’t the first person to make this point, not by a long shot. We’ve been discussing the “latinx” problem here since at least 2019. Still, the fact that this topic is getting some play in the NY Times opinion section seems like a good thing.

Kristof, as a good progressive, can’t actually bring himself to criticize anything in particular but he is willing to say that, in general, these efforts at rhetorical inclusion have gone too far. He offers three categories of criticism of the new language. First, he sees it as a substitute for doing something about the actual problem. As he points out, using the word “houseless” or the phrase “people experiencing homelessness” instead of just homeless doesn’t get anyone off the street.

Second, the new vocabulary is often wordy and unclear which he suggests isn’t helpful when discussion social problems.

But his third and final point is both social and political. By insisting on all of this new, often weird language Democrats and progressives are creating more distance between themselves and a majority of the American people. And that creates an opportunity for politicians like Gov. DeSantis.

He’s right of course and this has been obvious to many of us for several years now. All of this woke language is off-putting to normal people and all conservatives have to do is point it out to make common cause with voters. Some of the Times’ commenters seem to get it as well. This comment is from someone in San Francisco.