A legislator from a very small Kansas town has attached a rider to the education funding bill which will require that all textbooks used in the state be written in one-syllable words. “It’s too easy to hide lies inside big words,” he said, resorting to a couple of two-syllable words himself. The Single Syls, as they’ve come to be known, have slowly gained traction on the fringes of education, and their influence has not gone unnoticed among textbook publishers. If the bill passes in its current form, publishers will be on deadline to revise their titles for the new school year. Modern Principles of Mathematics will become Math Facts Now, Introduction to English Literature will be revised to Meet Brit Lit, and of course The American Story: Our Nation's History will be changed to Our Past. Meanwhile, in a floor debate about raising sin taxes, a suburban legislator from Back East startled awake and protested that the legislature has no business meddling with the English language. Reaction was split along party lines.
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