NYC List of Banned Words Goes Public

When I noted in this forum that the New York City Department of Education had banned 50 words from appearing on tests, some of our readers jokingly asked if I was kidding. Unfortunately I was not, and now the NYC Ed Department has published those 50 words, proving it.

Howard Portnoy, over at Hot Air's Green Room reprinted the entire list, which I am copying verbatim here:

Abuse (physical, sexual, emotional, or psychological)
Alcohol (beer and liquor), tobacco, or drugs
Birthday celebrations (and birthdays)
Bodily functions
Cancer (and other diseases)
Catastrophes/disasters (tsunamis and hurricanes)
Celebrities
Children dealing with serious issues
Cigarettes (and other smoking paraphernalia)
Computers in the home (acceptable in a school or library setting)
Crime
Death and disease
Divorce
Evolution
Expensive gifts, vacations, and prizes
Gambling involving money
Halloween
Homelessness
Homes with swimming pools
Hunting
Junk food
In-depth discussions of sports that require prior knowledge
Loss of employment
Nuclear weapons
Occult topics (i.e. fortune-telling)
Parapsychology
Politics
Pornography
Poverty
Rap Music
Religion
Religious holidays and festivals (including but not limited to Christmas, Yom Kippur, and Ramadan)
Rock-and-Roll music
Running away
Sex
Slavery
Terrorism
Television and video games (excessive use)
Traumatic material (including material that may be particularly upsetting such as animal shelters)
Vermin (rats and roaches)
Violence
War and bloodshed
Weapons (guns, knives, etc.)
Witchcraft, sorcery, etc.

There is the occasional word that shouldn't really be discussed in grade school anyway (the word 'pornography' comes to mind), but most of these are just plain silly. Loss of employment? Good luck avoiding that one on an economics test. And although Health Class tests seem a little silly, they do exist and usually the subject of alcohol or tobacco comes up. Maybe they can replace 'Happy Halloween' with 'Happy Holidays', though.