Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,
Oxford University has advised its staff to avoid common English idioms such as "learn the ropes" and "find your feet," on the grounds that they may confuse international students or that they perpetuate negative stereotypes.
The guidance appears in the university's official style guide, which also recommends replacing gendered terms and softer language around socioeconomic status, prompting criticism from free speech groups that Oxford is prioritising sensitivity over cultural immersion.
The style guide tells writers to favour "plain English" and cautions: "Be mindful of idioms that may not be familiar to international readers or that may use stereotypes. Use common words, short sentences and familiar constructions."
Oxford University guide ditches traditional British phrases in favour of 'inclusive' language for foreign students https://t.co/K3S44IcKQe
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Specific alternatives are offered: "learn the ropes" becomes "learn how to do that," "find your feet" becomes "getting used to their new environment," and "blindspots" becomes "gaps in knowledge."
Gendered words face similar treatment. "Spokesman," "chairwoman," and "mankind" are to be swapped for "spokesperson," "chair," and "humankind."
Staff are also advised to use "they/them" rather than alternating "he" and "she," to describe "deprived" students as "lower income" or as having experienced "socioeconomic disadvantage," and to prefer "gay" over "homosexual" (except in legal or medical contexts) and "older people" over "the elderly."
Around a third of Oxford's students are international, including a fifth of undergraduates. The university has become increasingly dependent on higher fees from overseas students as domestic funding pressures grow.
An Oxford spokesman said: "Like many large organisations, including newspapers, Oxford University has a style guide to help staff write clearly and consistently. As a global university with staff and students from around the world, we write for a wide international audience. The guide provides practical advice for written University communications, from punctuation to choosing language that readers will readily understand. Its writing guidance is advisory and supports staff in exercising their own judgement about the language they use and the audience they are writing for."
Lord Young of the Free Speech Union rejected the premise. "Surely, one of the reasons international students come to Oxford is so that they can immerse themselves in our culture and master colloquial English," he said. "What's next? Is Oxford going to insist all lectures have to be in Esperanto?"
The episode fits a wider pattern of language policing across British higher education and politics. Cambridge University has previously argued that free speech should be restricted in certain circumstances.
Other institutions have declared the term "ethnic minority" itself offensive.
UK students have been ordered to undertake white privilege training.
The government has urged schools to report "anti-Muslim hostility."
The Green Party has called for the words "mother" and "father" to be erased in favour of more inclusive alternatives.
These measures arrive as universities face financial strain and recruit more heavily from overseas. Critics argue the result is a slow dilution of the very cultural and linguistic distinctiveness that draws international students in the first place.
Learning everyday English, including its idioms, is part of mastering the language rather than an obstacle to be removed. Treating common British phrases as potentially confusing or stereotypical places the burden of adaptation on the host culture instead of on those who choose to study within it.
The style guide is presented as advisory. In practice, such documents shape institutional expectations and signal which forms of expression are considered acceptable. Free speech advocates note that once everyday language is flagged as risky, the scope of self-censorship expands.
Oxford's response emphasises clarity for a global audience. Lord Young's reply highlights the opposite priority: that international students benefit from encountering the language and culture as it is used.
British universities remain among the world's leading institutions. Their reputation rests on rigorous standards and open inquiry, not on rewriting ordinary English and instituting Orwellian Newspeak to minimise every possible misunderstanding.
Treating common idioms as problems to be solved by avoidance rather than explanation reverses the traditional purpose of a world-class university. Students who arrive at Oxford should leave more fluent in the language and more familiar with the culture, not less exposed to either.
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