wokescold

To wokescold someone is to berate them for not being sufficiently ‘woke’, that is, sensitised to expressions of racial or social discrimination. Someone who still talks about women as ‘the girls’ might find himself being wokescolded by women who resent this form of address.  A wokescold is a person who is given to wokescolding with vigour. 

 The word relies on the American use of woke in this sense, which in turn comes from the Black American use meaning ‘well-informed or up-to-date’. This was a 60s use but by the 70s it was used in relation to the African-American civil rights movement and meant ‘aware of one’s rights’. Still later it broadened to cover awareness of all kinds of discrimination. 

PoliticsSue ButlerComment