The City of San Diego is reworking its manual for employee communications after a section on “Bias-Free Language” sparked public ridicule because it instructed staff not to mention the country’s “Founding Fathers.”

The Pacific Justice Institute issued a letter to Dan Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer Monday calling for the city to rescind recent guidelines restricting employee speech it considers gender biased. Examples in the document include words and phrases like “the common man,” “manmade,” “man up” and numerous others.

“As one example, the guidelines note that ‘founding fathers’ is also problematic and should be replaced with ‘founders,’” according to a PJI statement. “The city further urges employees preparing official reports to disregard or paraphrase research that contains such biased language.”

PJI attorney Matthew McReynolds pointed out that the city directive would preclude employees from citing more than 1,500 Supreme Court and lower court decisions that specifically cite the Founding Fathers, and provided numerous examples in the letter to Faulconer.

“Many Americans, including city employees, will no doubt be surprised to learn that the city considers them biased for merely mentioning ordinary words and phrases like ‘the common man,’ ‘mankind,’ ‘manmade’ and ‘man up,’ to name a few of the manual’s parade of horribles,” McReynolds wrote.

WND, Fox News, The Blaze and other media outlets picked up on McReynolds’ letter, and questioned the city about the guidelines.

Faulconer’s chief of communications, Matt Awbrey, then sent an email to WND alleging the reference to the Founding Fathers was a mistake.

“Suggesting that our Founding Fathers should be referred to as ‘Founders’ is political correctness run amuck. We are proud of our nation’s history and there is nothing wrong with referring to the Founding Fathers,” Awbrey wrote. “Once the mayor became aware of this yesterday he directed the ‘Founders’ example to be removed from the document.”

Awbrey added that the communications guide “will be reviewed for other examples that defy common sense.”

The City of San Diego also issued an official statement that contends the reference to the Founding Fathers “was an example used in the correspondence manual, nothing more,” WND reports.

“This example has been removed,” the statement read. “Correspondence manuals have encouraged gender neutral language since at least the 1990s. The correspondence manual is largely based on the Merriam-Webster Secretarial Handbook, which has long been the standard for proper etiquette in the United States.

“The manual is a guidebook and nothing more,” it continued. “No employee has ever been disciplined for referencing our founding fathers, and no one ever will.”

Fox News’ Todd Starnes also weighed in on the issue, likening the politically correct phrases to nonsense from the city’s most famous anchorman – Will Ferrell’s Ron Burgundy.

Starnes wrote:

Consider page 77 of the city’s correspondence style guide – where nearly 20 words are deemed inappropriate.

Among the words are newsman, postman, policeman, weatherman, workman, chairman, fireman, foreman and the list goes on and on and on. Notice a particular trend?

They even ban the word “anchorman” – which reminds me of a great line from the Will Ferrell movie of the same name: “It’s anchorman, not anchorlady – and that is a scientific fact.”

“We are aware of the need to use language that recognizes our diversity and does not offend, demean or exclude people on the basis of gender, race, ethnic group, religion, age, ability/disability, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, familial or marital status, or political affiliations,” the city wrote in its manual.

“As Mr. Burgundy, San Diego’s most famous anchorman, so eloquently opined: ‘I’m a man who discovered the wheel and built the Eiffel Tower out of metal and brawn. That’s what kind of man I am,’” Starnes wrote.