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US news agency AP again clarifies tweet advising that writing 'the French' is 'dehumanizing'

The Associated Press stylebook on Thursday advised against the use of 'general and often dehumanizing ‘the’ labels such as the poor, the mentally ill, the French, the disabled.'

By Arnaud Leparmentier (New York (United States) correspondent)
Published on January 27, 2023 at 10h11, updated at 17h49 on January 27, 2023
Time to 2 min.
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With more than 23 million views and 18,000 retweets, one tweet from the Associated Press (AP) stylebook on Thursday, January 26, did not go unnoticed in France and around the world:

"We recommend avoiding general and often dehumanizing “the” labels such as the poor, the mentally ill, the French, the disabled, the college-educated. Instead, use wording such as people with mental illnesses. And use these descriptions only when clearly relevant."

The AP Stylebook, a compendium of good writing practices, is something of a bible for American journalists. But this unusual recommendation set off a flurry of Twitter reactions, and the AP Stylebook eventually deleted the original tweet.

Many journalists sarcastically suggested using the term "people experiencing Frenchness" while Atlanta-based artist C Barker prefers "suffering from Frenchness". Shelagh Dolan chooses the very neutral "person of French experience" while "assigned French at birth" was chosen by Connor Scott-Gardner. NBC writer Ben Collins suggested "people experiencing a croque-monsieur." "These are all just ways to describe the characters in Les Misérables," added another Twitter user. "My favorite movie is The Connection With Frenchness," said comedian Jeremy McLellan, in reference to The French Connection.

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