General
Mongol Identity Organisation wants changes to dictionary after Verstappen incident
- GPblog.com
Drivers sometimes get frustrated in the heat of the moment and Max Verstappen is no stranger to that emotion. At last year's Portuguese Grand Prix, this led to him being criticised for using offensive language over the radio.
After a collision with Lance Stroll, he called the Canadian a "Mongol", a common term of abuse, especially among Dutch youngsters. Of course, it's not nice and it caused quite a stir, especially internationally, when even the Mongolian Ambassador to the United Nations became involved.
Definitions have to change
On Education Day, the Mongol Identity Organisation, based in Scotland, seized the incident as an opportunity to reiterate their dissatisfaction with the use of the word 'Mongol'. "When Max Verstappen made his comments, we noticed a lot of people on social media saying, 'Mongol is in the dictionary and it means someone who is stupid or someone who has Down's syndrome'."
The group now wants to change that by asking dictionary publishers to adjust the definitions of the word 'Mongol' so that it can no longer be defined as a derogatory term. Mainly by simply removing the connection to Down Syndrome.
"If a dictionary is meant for learning a language, for example, is it really necessary to include a reference to Down's syndrome in a definition of Mongol?," Uganaa Ramsay is quoted by Autosport.com.