The requirement had drawn criticism from French language purists and government officials.

Many language purists, however, consider singular they to be grammatically incorrect, and would thus discourage its use, especially in writing.

That said, true language purists won't admit the authority of Scrabble's dictionary in the first place.

Given that, how do you feel about language purists?

Q. Do you think there's a psychological component to the positions of language purists?

A. I think language purists tend to be people who have a natural bent for order.

This misimpression underlies a lot of what rankles the language purists.

Not surprisingly, a host of grammarians and language purists appeared early on to impose order.

The word "boutique" and similar foreign terms that private shop owners use to make their establishments seem jet-set has aroused the anger of Hungarian language purists.

One of his teachers was Hyppoliet Meert, a Flamingant and language purist.