| Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993. |
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| DOUBLESPEAK, DOUBLE TALK |
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| Both terms describe language practices intended to deceive. Doublespeak frequently renames the world with euphemisms-especially the political, the economic, and the social world-so that what is ugly or cruel or inexcusable may be made to appear plausible or kind or acceptable. Revenue enhancement is thought by some to be a term more acceptable to the citizen than tax increase would be; our Vietnam pacification programs were soothingly named, even though they resulted in the death and suffering of civilian populations. | 1 |
Double talk is even more directly meant to deceive, in that it uses big nonce words, nonsensical polysyllables that sound as though they ought to be words, and fuddling syntax to baffle the brains of listeners or readers. A NASA comment illustrates:| | The normal process during the countdown is that the countdown proceeds, assuming we are in a go posture, and at various points during the countdown we tag up on the operational loops and face to face in the firing room to ascertain the facts that project elements that are monitoring the data and that are understanding the situation as we proceed are still in the go condition. (Quoted in Lutz 1989, 223) |
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| The words seem to say something important, yet we don’t really know what that something is. Double talk is a trap of the sort set by those tailors who made the emperor’s new clothes. It sounds much like English, and the insecure worry that everyone but them must understand it. Avoid using either doublespeak or double talk even inadvertently, unless your intent is to deceive. And be constantly on guard against their use on you by others, and don’t let others’ jargon befuddle you; used to overwhelm the uninitiated, it too is meant to deceive or give a false impression of competence. See also JARGON; NEWSPEAK. | 3 |
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| | | The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. Copyright © 1993 Columbia University Press. |
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