Words used by people in a society does not have a fix identity. Even if we go through various websites or dictionaries, we will encounter various interpretations of one particular word. A word exists by itself, it does not have an author or creator to prove that it only has specific meanings. This creates a space for people to manipulate words easily at any time. They just need to put in effort in how they intend to present the word to the public. With just having confidence in their speech and good evidence to back up their points, one can completely change the viewpoint of people towards the language used. At one point Orwell has stated that “ As soon as certain topics are raised, the concrete melts into the abstract and no one seems able to think of turns of speech that are not hackneyed….henhouse” (Orwell, 512). When we look back at this claim by Orwell, it shows how meanings of words are easily manipulated by just attaching it with other words to create a phrase. It completely changes the current definition and creates a new focus of what it means among the society. Orwell also states that “Some metaphors now current have been
We are changing words that have no offensive value. For instance, because we as a society are so afraid of offending the super-sensitive, the word jungle is now referred to as rain-forest. Another example is brought up by S.I. Hayakawa in the essay, "Words with Built-in Judgments" [S.I.Hayakawa and Alan R. Hayakawa]. He cited: "What about the woman on the softball team who
Lucas, K., & Fyke, J. P. (2014). Euphemisms and ethics: A language-centered analysis of Penn State's Sexual Abuse Scandal. Journal of Business Ethics, 122(4), 551-569. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1777-0
Euphemism are types of words that make things sound better than they are. Dyseuphemism are types of words that make things sound worse than they are.
In the essay, “Life under the Chief Doublespeak Officer, the writer, William Lutz, speaks about the vocabulary used to maneuver and misguide the “everyday person.” We are introduced to the fancy words and titles that add positive connotation to the reality of negativity. The essay enlightens and teaches not to be fooled by filtering terms.
Politicians craft their words to mask the truth and shift away any negative attention. Euphemisms is one method for politicians to comfortably address controversial topics. For example, Tony Abbott refers to the deployment of Australian air forces and troops to Iraq as an “humanitarian mission”. The word ‘humanitarian’
effects does such terminology have on those around us? Can what we casually toss around in
In The Case Against Banning the Word “Retard”, Author Christopher M. Fairman made his argument clear in very clear that the effort to rid the use of word retarded or retard is futile and a possible danger to freedom of speech. Fairman does not base his argument on the idea that the mentally disabled, or mentally retarded, aren’t offended by the use of the word retard, but rather that the core issue isn’t the actual word but the negative connotation people put with taboo subjects. Because Fairman bases his argument on the idea that the offensive nature of words is created by the taboo nature of their origins, a large part of the paper is devoted to defending this idea with examples like the N-word and the use of the word gay. Although the
In William Lutz’s essay entitled “The World of Doublespeak,” from Christopher Ricks’s and Lenonard Micheal’s anthology State of the Language, Lutz examines the art of doublespeak. This essay is meant to enlighten people on examples and different uses of doublespeak and how organizations and others use it to mislead. Lutz begins by defining doublespeak as “language which pretends to communicate but doesn’t, language which makes the bad seem good, the negative appear positive, the unpleasant attractive, or at least tolerable” (278). Specifically, people who use doublespeak pretend to be conveying a certain message while in the real sense they are doing the opposite of that. The author gives specific examples of doublespeak that affect the
According to the Oxford English Dictionary many words and phrases we use today are at their root, offensive. For example cretin is used to mean an idiot but, in the Nineteenth century this word was used for those with severe congenital birth defects similar to cerebral palsy. This word came from the Swiss French meaning “Christian” to remind others that these unfortunates were still human beings. The phrase “no can do” is actually Pidgin English from Chinese immigrants meaning “I can’t do that”. Too much effort is made to not offend people and political correctness is out of control threatening to end our way of life.
The ‘n-word’. The first time you heard this word was most likely in middle school when your reading teacher read you the book Huckleberry Finn. The ‘n-word’ is a prime example of where political
Based off the book, “What the F” by Benjamin K. Bergen; he shows us only a minor part of the huge role that profanity takes effect in humanity’s day to day life; our language and our society's culture are all affected by the well-worn use of profanity. This can vary from racial slurring, to malapropos and indecorous sexual referencing and even to, blunt classifications
Censorship is another similar issue. The word itself sends off warning signals, and flashes of fascism. The Western populous tends to oppose
Marijuana has many different names such as "kif" in Morocco, "doggo" in South Africa and "gangi" in India. There are many slang terms for this type of drug such as "grass," "pot," "weed," "reefer," "mj," "boo," "broccoli," "ace'', "joint," "Colombian"