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George Carlin's "Soft Language" (2019)

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

#311

Post by seabass-labrax »

abdullahkhalids wrote: post #198
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…

The wiki page on climate change [1] explains that climate change was already a growing to be preferred term earlier than Frank Luntz memo. Which I think is correct because it is much more accurate. There is a lot more to climate change than global warming. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change#Terminology

"Rapid climate change" is what I would say is the most specific term, because climates change naturally over time, but usually do so slowly enough that there is no risk to individuals. The kind of climate change due to human interactions is so rapid that individuals are at risk, for instance those who live in low-lying coastal areas. Species evolve when there is slow climate change, but rapid changes make whole clades of species extinct before they have enough generations to evolve.

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

#312

Post by dopidopHN »

imgabe wrote: post #306
dopidopHN wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or; they would have space out the animals. Allowing them to shit not on themselves and the one next to their anus. And tadam. You don’t need antibiotics. It’s the filthy condition we produce our meat into that require that. And those technics are not mandatory to produce that much meat. This is needed to producing at a certain price, on a schedule. it’s not really about starving to death anymore. But rather cranking…

Producing food at the right price and on the right schedule is important. It is no good to produce food people can’t afford or that bankrupts the producer. It is no good to produce food only after people are starving and riots have broken out. What kind of profit margins do you imagine food producers are making? This is not Google where they sell little ads at a 30% margin. It’s a commodity business with a lot of com…

Absolutely, price and timing are important.

I have a simple question: Do you think industrial meat factory are needed to feed us comfortably and affordably.

And by us I mean humanity. Not the US, not the west. All of us on this rock.

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

#313

Post by nightfly »

rglover wrote: post #302
nightfly wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is the first comment on here I've wanted to just say "fuck you" to. There are lots of reasons for people to feel insecure, and this type of attitude doesn't help

You've proven Carlin's point.

No. How do you think your students would feel if they knew this is how you think of them? I know lots of insecure people, some who are new but still learning, some very skilled in some areas with holes in others but their skills areas way more then make up for their deficiencies, some who just have anxiety issues who don't have any skill issues at all. And a few who really might be in over their heads. The last category is the smallest.

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

#314

Post by klyrs »

croes wrote: post #190
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…

>History lesson: no, WWI veterans didn't get the attention they needed. Where does Carlin say that WWI veterans did the proper attention? He said with the name shell shock maybe Vietnam veterans would have, because 50 years the same name for the same problem without proper treatment could have get the publics attention >This is wistful conservatism wrapped in a shroud of comedy. That is your interpretation and not ne…

> especially since Carlin can hardly be called a conservative

What an interesting response. I did not call him a conservative, did I? I said that he was performing a conservative bit.

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

#315

Post by rhuru »

seabass-labrax wrote: post #303
rhuru wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reduction is a negative word. Could trigger the snowflakes at your office. I think the correct term is "reassessment of human resources" or "restructuring", it is a bit like guy who steals your car at gunpoint in SF but is kind enough to ask you your preferred pronoun.

Perhaps taking your metaphor a bit too literally, but interesting nonetheless: I don't live in a country where guns are either legal or common, but from my understanding of de-escalation advice, polite and careful interactions with criminals are recommended. Engaging in calm dialogue supposedly reduces the chance that the criminal will get scared and pull the trigger, because most people would rather be in the dock f…

I am no entirely use if that moral implications of their actions or the legal distinction of different crimes is easily conveyed when the disadvantaged person has fentanyl pumping through their blood stream.

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

#317

Post by rhuru »

jpcfl wrote: post #269
rhuru wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reduction is a negative word. Could trigger the snowflakes at your office. I think the correct term is "reassessment of human resources" or "restructuring", it is a bit like guy who steals your car at gunpoint in SF but is kind enough to ask you your preferred pronoun.

> steals I believe the correct term for this is "reallocation."

restridistribution of mobility advantage.

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

#318

Post by apricot »

itronitron wrote: post #66
poszlem wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The term turned negative because it represented something that no one wanted to be associated with. Even if you were to use the phrase "unicorn-blessed" in the same context, over time, it could also develop a negative connotation. It's not the terminology that's a problem, but the situation it describes. "Idiot", "moron", and "imbecile" used to be medical terms.

>> 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.

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

#319

Post by klyrs »

rhuru wrote: post #200
rhuru wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Each generation complains about the new generation's usage of new terms. My younger siblings use the phrases like NPC so often, that irritates many older people in the family. From my understanding the top down terms enforced by language police at universities, public schools and corporations invariably end up becoming joke over time. The bottom up terms which were created by bullies, incels, sluts, car mechanics, ba…

Term "snowflake" is also something that is will stick around forever now which can be used to describe people who downvote my comment. So is "Cancel Culture". Bottoms up worlds will live on.

If the words have any meaning, Budweiser offended snowflakes, and met Cancel Culture head-on.

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

#320

Post by gosub100 »

EGG_CREAM wrote: post #48
squarefoot wrote: post #2

George Carlin should be studied, translated and dubbed in every possible language.

Unpopular opinion: much of what he said was just total bs. Even in an example from this article, he goes on a tangent about phrases that were not used then and still are not used. "They're not used cars, they're 'previously owned automobiles.'" What? Nobody calls them that, even today, 30 some odd years later. In my opinion, George Carlin sometimes had some kernel of good observation at the heart of his bits, that he…

he gave simple-minded people comfort for an increasingly complicated world. But notably absent from his calculated monlogue was "grandma went to heaven / (in a better place)", vs "she DIED". even crusty old George knew how far he could push it.
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