[steviedotboston]

This is admitting that its intentionally misleading, which is lying and is bad. You just think that it's an rhetorically effective term. When I walk into a public library and I see a display a books for "banned books week" that includes The Catcher in the Rye and The Color Purple, two of the most best selling books ever which are commonly assigned reading in schools, it's so obvious that the whole thing is a farce.

[john_strinlai]

"banned" just means "not allowed".

it doesn't need to apply globally for something to be banned. it doesn't need to be illegal across the country. something can be banned from a certain place (e.g. a school). it's still correct to say it is banned.

some HNers are so weird when it comes to the word "banned" regarding books, i really dont understand why. its only ever in the context of school/library books. use "ban" in the sense of "banned from the forum" or similar, and no one bats an eye.

why dont people get worked up when tom/dang "ban" someone from HN? they haven't made it illegal for that user to visit HN.

[some_random]

Because they're not "not allowed". With very few exceptions the thing people are freaking out about is books being curated out of libraries, usually for very understandable reasons.

[Guthwine]

'Curated out' not by librarians but by a singular patron challenging the purchase of a certain publication.

[some_random]

If by "singular patron" you mean the administration of the school then I guess so.

[Guthwine]

I doubt that the administration would initiate the removal process with no outside pressure from a parent or maybe some sort of parental group a la the Satanic Panic and BADD [1].

[1] Bothered About Dungeons & Dragons

[john_strinlai]

>Because they're not "not allowed".

...yes? that is the meaning of "ban", so it seems entirely appropriate to use that word

[some_random]

Sorry to tell you this but you've been lied to about these books being banned, as in they are not being banned, they are still allowed.

[john_strinlai]

what does this reply have to do with your misunderstanding about the definition of "ban"?

[some_random]

The books are not banned. Students are allowed to possess the books. Students are allowed to read the books.

[nerdjon]

It isn’t intentionally misleading, at best it is an over simplification of what is happening.

It is a fact that there is a government lead effort in various states to ban books from k-12 libraries. That part of this is not up for debate because it is happening. So they are in fact “banned”. As a society we generally accept that words have more complicated or nuanced meanings when connected to other words, as “banned” is in this case.

We also as a society generally accept that those other words may be implied or require looking at something for more than a minute to understand the context. If you are in a country where a book is actually banned, I would wager that you would likely just say “this book is banned” implying it is banned where you are instead of adding in “this book is banned here in X” since it would be unnecessary to say and would be generally understood.

If you don’t like the word than propose another word.