On 10/15/06, Jimmy Wales <jwales(a)wikia.com>
wrote:
the wub wrote:
Addressing the example - this IS a (possibly the
most) widely propagated
example of political correctness gone mad in the UK. Just google for
"blackboard political correctness". However I can't for the life of me find
the original story that led to this (if there was one in the first place)
Precisely. It has all the flavor of an urban legend. I found many many
messageboard posts which claimed it as fact, but no one seems to have a
source. Perhaps it is true, after all, but the initial evidence seems
to suggest otherwise.
An urban legend so prominent in fact that it is mentioned in a government
report (
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/03/mepess/10 - section
6.64) :-)
I honestly wouldn't be that surprised if it was true, but I agree that if no
one can find evidence, it doesn't belong in Wikipedia.
Not so quick. If a claim has developed the status of a widely believed
urban legend we need to say something about it, if only to establish
that it is indeed an urban legend. Readers who have heard about this
from a friend of a friend can then come to us to be assured that the
idea has no basis in fact.
Ec