Last Word on Words

The latest "Epoch Times" (http://en.epochtimes.com/news/7-3-21/53152.html) had an article stating that moves were being made to replace "fight" and "fighter" with more neutral words such "spar" in Martial Arts handbooks in order to preserve the "Arts" aspect of the sport. The reasoning was that these contests were tests of skill, not fights in the colloquial sense, and this change would help preserve that tradition. "One cannot just promote non-violence in sport," [Chairman(sic) of the World Martial Arts Games Committee] Marchtaler said. "One must also choose words that support it."
So, an article highlighting the power of words and the ideas behind them without the bugaboo of gender to fuzzy things up. And how did I respond?
Philosopically, I agree. I think in most competitions, respect for the other contender(s) has been lost. People forget that the better one's opponent is, the better one's own skills must be. The sparring partner is a spur to personal betterment.
That said, I'm still tired. For every "fight to spar" transition, there's a dozen "unemployment to employment insurance," changes which smack less of progressiveness and more of bureacratic shuffling. Purely cosmetic or again, putting the horse (mare?) before the cart.
Let's call for a compromise. Let's hope that each change in language at least allows some leverage for some kind of social change, or parallels it. That said, let's choose our fights - oops, I mean "spars," carefully. If policing (monitoring? modifying?) my speech in some small way engenders social equity, well more power to us.