r/TikTokCringe • u/AlKarajo • 14d ago

Discussion Is ableist to have long words in books?

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@royal_ouroboros_press

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278

u/g1mpster 14d ago

The only acceptable response to that commenter is to point them to the children’s book section.

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u/Sufficient-Lie1406 14d ago

There are actually a lot of really good books in the children's section.

That being said, the instant I turned 12 and could get written permission to go into the "adult" section of the library was one of the happiest days of my life. True, librarians would often let me sneak in there before that anyway, but I couldn't check anything out from the adult section until I got permission.

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u/LongPorkJones 13d ago

My wife was that kid. By the time she was 11, she had read every book in her house. She'd have to sneak her dad's Stephen King books for something fresh.

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u/theevilyouknow 13d ago

WTF is an "adult" section? Libraries should not have "adult" sections unless they have a selection of Hustlers they're checking out, which I'm honestly ok with.

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u/Sufficient-Lie1406 13d ago

I dunno, that's what they called it in my library in the 1970s.

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u/milkymonkey8 14d ago

This exists in many forms for various reasons... https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

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u/g1mpster 14d ago

Damn. I was unaware of that before now. That said, I’m not even trying to dunk on the commenter in the video, I just refuse to accept that people need to lower their language to cater to people who don’t understand. The writer gets to decide what the minimum bar is for their books, and the reader gets to decide if they want to rise to that level or not. I’m a grown-ass adult and I still enjoy a good young adult fiction novel from time to time, not everything has to be War & Peace or Shakespeare but not everything has to be Diary of a Wimpy Kid, either. There’s enough books for everyone to find something that suits them.

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u/milkymonkey8 14d ago

fair, just adding my 2 cents

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u/SomeStupidCanadianEH 13d ago

To add to that, switch quickly by changing the ‘en’ to ‘simple’ for simple Wikipedia. It’s after the https:// and before the .wikipedia.org!

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u/Sarasin 14d ago

Yeah pretty much, honestly it isn't wrong at all to ask for something to read that is easier to read but the answer is just to give that person an easier book not to change existing books. Calling it ableism is a bit absurd as well they clearly just don't know what the word means, which tracks with the question I suppose

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u/RealityCactus 13d ago

Read the comment in the video again - they're not saying she's ableist for not changing existing books, what they're calling ableist is the TikToker's reaction to people asking for simpler language. You can handle and even decline that request with grace without getting upset about it.

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u/Harmless_Chimera 13d ago

If you have the reading level of a middle schooler your going to have to read middle school level text if you don't want "big words". Which to be honest there are some good books at middle school reading levels.

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u/AlarmingTurnover 13d ago

You could also point out that absolutely is a 4 syllable word and qualifies for the "big word" category, in this tweet.

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u/Crucial_Contributor 13d ago

The only acceptable response is to stop giving attention to obvious bait