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This weekly thread will focus on words, their import, and their use / misuse.
With respect to the late, great George Carlin.
Some Starters (and don’t feel you have to speak on all or any of them if you don’t care to):
- How do you feel about political (or forced) movement of language? For example, pro-life and pro-choice being two sides of the same issue because nobody wants to identify as "anti-"anything.
- What are some words that are nebulous, but everyone “knows” the meaning of?
- Are there any manipulated words that annoy you?
- Do you find any common patterns with how words are used by various groups?
I think anything that I could say on this subject has already been said with far greater clarity by Orwell. Should that not be enough, or if you’d like it worded in a more punchy way, Northrop Frye has got you covered.
I’ve read Orwell and fully agree.
I hadn’t seen that column from Frye however - his statement about levels of language and thinking akin to levels of math was something I hadn’t seen put into words before and really enjoyed!