I quote my alter ego, Verbal Vol, from his upcoming EVC column, Finding the Challenges:” … there is no private sector; the entities cited are defined by the public (state) sector, in effect they are subsidiaries of the state. If the state did not believe they were beholden to the state, they would have no…
Category: Words Poorly Used
Words Poorly Used #8 — Accountability
Think, in 10 words or less, what the word “accountable” means to you — no fair looking in a dictionary, because politicians who promise accountability don’t. Politicians say “someone should be accountable.” This means an unnamed, later to be determined person might be singled out to take the blame for something. If we look at…
Words Poorly Used #7 — Nation
Many people use the word “nation” interchangeably with “country,” “state,” or “government.” This gives rise to confusion among those who are inhabitants of the latter three. The origin of the word nation is in its use to identify a group of people of common birth experience. An example would be the “Cherokee Nation.” An example…
Words Poorly Used #6 and Unused
Did you know that FDR did not use the words free, freedom, liberty, or individual in his first inaugural address in 1933? He did use words like fear, terror, nameless, unreasoning, unjustified, paralyzed, withered … in the first two paragraphs! Is it a coincidence that the state took an iron grip on the lives of…
Words Poorly Used #5 — Quality Assurance
If you call a grizzly a squirrel, will it not eat you? Today’s linguistic rant may seem like small potatoes, but the degeneration of our communication is big time. See the tower of Babel. “Quality assurance” is a good, and very low key example. Rather than delivering good stuff, it is there to make…
Words Poorly Used #4 — Democracy
The trouble with the word democracy is that it can mean almost anything. And politicians, along with manipulators in general, love almost-anything words. Since the very languages which contain the usage democracy are themselves sets of rules made by people the very use of language is democratic. Any learned behavior is democratic — rules by…
Words Poorly Used #3 — Anarchy (Continued)
Anarchy is not a political stance. Here is a good example of anarchy: that which has prevailed at the crater of Haleakala, Maui, HI, USA since its inception. The National Park Service may have built a road, and may presume to lock a gate at night, but Haleakala will be there for millions more years. …
Words Poorly Used #2 — Anarchy
I’m wondering if there is another word that is so difficult to explain so that those who abuse it will stop. Like “chaos,” “anarchy” is misused in the media, by politicians, and in the vernacular. I still get an image (vaguely tied in with Natasha Fatale and Boris Badinoff) of guys in black raincoats with…
Words Poorly Used #1 — Chaos
Senator Sam Hayakawa was a man of many hats, but his principle claim to fame was as a linguist. I learned semantics from Professor Hayakawa. “If you see in any given situation only what everybody else can see, you can be said to be so much a representative of your culture that you are a…