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George Carlin's "Soft Language" (2019)

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Re: George Carlin's "Soft Language" (2019)

#321

Post by jimbobimbo »

tptacek wrote: post #128

Just for fun, from the first example: * Toilet paper -> bathroom tissue --- sure, a softening of the language. * Sneakers -> running shoes --- not a softening; sneakers aren't the same as running shoes, and "sneaker" was a regionalism (it's "gym shoe" where I grew up). * False teeth -> dental appliance --- a softening, though a welcome one in this case. * Medicine -> medication --- a softening (a nominalization of a…

Certified pre-owned is really a brand new car for a lower price for all intents and purposes. This is a term of art if you will, not softening of the term "used car".

Manufactured home can also be a far cry from what the house trailer is.

Re: George Carlin's "Soft Language" (2019)

#322

Post by [deleted] »

tsimionescu wrote: post #168
Waterluvian wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something I was rather ignorant to for the longest time was how fascism can exist at both ends of the spectrum. My last day on Mastodon was the day a few people ganged up on me quite aggressively for not putting Alt text in an image. Tolerance isn’t acceptance. It’s letting things you don’t like exist without making a big fuss over it. You can dislike certain speech patterns without having to go on a crusade against…

I think fascism is a bad term to use here, totalitarianism or thought-policing is more what you mean. Fascism refers to specific political beliefs including totalitarianism plus some form of cultural supremacy (typically racism, but it can also be religious or nationalistic), rigid hierarchy, and might-makes-right morals. Not all totalitarian regimes are fascist, and the behavior you're describing is neither hierarch…

[deleted]

Re: George Carlin's "Soft Language" (2019)

#323

Post by seabass-labrax »

alexpotato wrote: post #108

Wasn't a lot of this "soft language" the result of active and conscious work by people like Frank Luntz [0] e.g. - "energy exploration" to refer to oil drilling - "climate change" instead of global warming My understanding is that he used focus groups watching video of politicians. As the politician would speak, the watchers would use dials to live rate how they felt about the words being used. In essence, he would A…

Reading the Wikipedia article you link, I'm wondering whether Luntz's work covers the whole story. For instance:

> Frank Luntz, whose polling revealed that 'death tax' sparked voter resentment in a way that 'inheritance tax' and 'estate tax' couldn't match. After all, who wouldn't be opposed to a 'tax on death'? - Joshua Green, The American Prospect

In Britain, the term has been 'death duty' colloquially for decades, with 'inheritance tax' and 'capital transfer tax' both having been formal names. Yet, I haven't seen a particularly preference for the term being associated with an political ideology. Generally, the British public and their representatives just use whatever term is 'in'. Does this make British politicians less shrewd, make them more respectable, or simply make Luntz's research an American edge case?

Re: George Carlin's "Soft Language" (2019)

#324

Post by 0xbadc0de5 »

apricot wrote: post #318
itronitron wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> if you were to use the phrase "unicorn-blessed" yeah, that exact thing happened with the word "special"

Today, one often hears "He is special needs" said by people who think they are being politically correct. But that's awfully wrong. He might have special needs, but he is not needs. He is a person. To me, that's a lot more dehumanizing than saying "retarded". Then they'll say "but you know what I mean". That's the point, exactly.

The ultimate culmination being certain subreddits where the banned "retarded" has been replaced by the homonym "regarded", such that referring to someone as "highly regarded" is understood to mean the former, not the latter.

Re: George Carlin's "Soft Language" (2019)

#325

Post by [deleted] »

mikrotikker wrote: post #272
tsimionescu wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think fascism is a bad term to use here, totalitarianism or thought-policing is more what you mean. Fascism refers to specific political beliefs including totalitarianism plus some form of cultural supremacy (typically racism, but it can also be religious or nationalistic), rigid hierarchy, and might-makes-right morals. Not all totalitarian regimes are fascist, and the behavior you're describing is neither hierarch…

Not to take away from anything you said, but the woke/PC mob are kind of scary right. They have the cultural supremacy part, like a non theistic religion where adherence to the tenets are required or you'll be excused. Those weird and creepy struggle sessions. Not to mention it is one side of the ongoing culture war. They have the rigid hierarchy known as the progressive stack that ranks people on their immutable cha…

[deleted]

Re: George Carlin's "Soft Language" (2019)

#326

Post by [deleted] »

Waterluvian wrote: post #115
donatj wrote: post #100

I saw a conversation on Twitter a while ago back when it still was Twitter. The OP with many followers was laying out words and classes of words with negative connotations that shouldn't be used. Someone replied in good faith to OP and asked how we should express negative thoughts. OPs answer was basically that we shouldn't. I find that kind of thought very off putting and minorly disturbing. An important part of the…

Something I was rather ignorant to for the longest time was how fascism can exist at both ends of the spectrum. My last day on Mastodon was the day a few people ganged up on me quite aggressively for not putting Alt text in an image. Tolerance isn’t acceptance. It’s letting things you don’t like exist without making a big fuss over it. You can dislike certain speech patterns without having to go on a crusade against…

[deleted]

Re: George Carlin's "Soft Language" (2019)

#327

Post by klyrs »

Aloha wrote: post #180
klyrs wrote: post #155

> I'll bet if they had still been calling it 'shell shock,' some of those Vietnam veterans might have received the attention they needed. History lesson: no, WWI veterans didn't get the attention they needed. This is wistful conservatism wrapped in a shroud of comedy. Don't mistake it for truth or wisdom. The treatment of Vietnam veterans was not a departure from the standard practice of wars predating it. The depth…

My belief that part of the depth of Trauma compared to WWII and Korea was the rotation system as used, vs demob as a unit. To expand on this, in Vietnam, individual soldiers were rotated in and out based on time in country, in WWII, units rotated as a unit, with replacements added during the rotation. The fact that it took weeks or months to repatriate people back to CONUS after WWII, gave time for people to process…

Indeed, my single-paragraph "history lesson" doesn't do the topic any justice. To add to what you've said, mental health care went through a deinstitutionalization movement between the World Wars and the Vietnam War-- leaving a total void of "care" in place of torture/imprisonment. Upon reflection, I'd revise my statement to say that the impact of the trauma on veterans was much more visible than prior wars; in part because they ended up on the streets doing crack and heroin.

Re: George Carlin's "Soft Language" (2019)

#328

Post by strunz »

tptacek wrote: post #128

Just for fun, from the first example: * Toilet paper -> bathroom tissue --- sure, a softening of the language. * Sneakers -> running shoes --- not a softening; sneakers aren't the same as running shoes, and "sneaker" was a regionalism (it's "gym shoe" where I grew up). * False teeth -> dental appliance --- a softening, though a welcome one in this case. * Medicine -> medication --- a softening (a nominalization of a…

You're confusing technical terms for common usage. Obviously the words still exist and may mean different things, George's point is about how the softer language is used in common life, sometimes nefariously. Keep reading the article and get to the section on "shell shock" for a better example.

Re: George Carlin's "Soft Language" (2019)

#330

Post by OfSanguineFire »

tsimionescu wrote: post #168
Waterluvian wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something I was rather ignorant to for the longest time was how fascism can exist at both ends of the spectrum. My last day on Mastodon was the day a few people ganged up on me quite aggressively for not putting Alt text in an image. Tolerance isn’t acceptance. It’s letting things you don’t like exist without making a big fuss over it. You can dislike certain speech patterns without having to go on a crusade against…

I think fascism is a bad term to use here, totalitarianism or thought-policing is more what you mean. Fascism refers to specific political beliefs including totalitarianism plus some form of cultural supremacy (typically racism, but it can also be religious or nationalistic), rigid hierarchy, and might-makes-right morals. Not all totalitarian regimes are fascist, and the behavior you're describing is neither hierarch…

A glance at Mastodon top posts will show that the term “fascism” no longer refers to a set of political beliefs that arose in early 20th century Europe, and the associated violent regimes. It is used now for anything whatsoever that the person does not like. For example, since trans advocacy is such a big part of the Mastodon community, I have seen a poster claim that anything less than considering a person their claimed gender is “fascism”. That would make even non-Western cultures with an ancient tradition of acceptance of transpeople, but ascribing them to a third gender, comparable to Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco. People are just using the term as a slur without even thinking it through.
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