Overview

• The memo, titled “Was it something I said?,” targets roughly 44–45 terms it says confuse or alienate the public, including privilege, cultural appropriation, unhoused, birthing person, Latinx, and justice-involved.
• Third Way organizes the flagged language into six buckets—therapy-speak, seminar-room language, organizer jargon, gender/orientation correctness, shifting racial terminology, and explaining away crime—offering examples and why they frustrate listeners.
• It warns that such phrasing makes Democrats sound elitist and divisive and includes the line that pleasing a few has alienated many, particularly on cultural issues.
• The guidance is addressed to “All Who Wish to Stop Donald Trump and MAGA,” and coverage notes some Democrats, including Vice President Kamala Harris, have used several of the listed terms.
• Commentary from outlets such as USA TODAY and the Orange County Register highlights the push for plainer language, with critics pointing to a DNC meeting land acknowledgement as running counter to the memo, while no party-wide policy change has been announced.