Weasel words
en.wikipedia.org
Weasel words
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Re: Weasel words
#2I find my self disagreeing with some (a weasel word?) of this.
Their first example of "researchers believe" for example. If 'experts believe' something then surely (weasel words?) that should be given weight, even if they aren't offering a cast iron guarantee of fact. That's communicating nuance, not using weasel words. That isn't to say they can't be weasel words though.
There are a few (weasel word?) other examples that I myself have probably used. Maybe that's just British understatement?
Re: Weasel words
#3I find my self disagreeing with some (a weasel word?) of this. Their first example of "researchers believe" for example. If 'experts believe' something then surely (weasel words?) that should be given weight, even if they aren't offering a cast iron guarantee of fact. That's communicating nuance, not using weasel words. That isn't to say they can't be weasel words though. There are a few (weasel word?) other examples…
Maybe it depends on the unqualified nature of being "expert".
A classic example is deidomedo's "Experts say" page (JFYI):
https://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/experts.html
The original (2007 and dated 2009) page:
https://web.archive.org/web/20070501183102/http://www.dedoim...
Re: Weasel words
#4I find my self disagreeing with some (a weasel word?) of this. Their first example of "researchers believe" for example. If 'experts believe' something then surely (weasel words?) that should be given weight, even if they aren't offering a cast iron guarantee of fact. That's communicating nuance, not using weasel words. That isn't to say they can't be weasel words though. There are a few (weasel word?) other examples…
Maybe it depends on the unqualified nature of being "expert". A classic example is deidomedo's "Experts say" page (JFYI): https://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/experts.html The original (2007 and dated 2009) page: https://web.archive.org/web/20070501183102/http://www.dedoim...
Personally I would say if you use the word expert, it should be an actual expert in the relevant field. Anything else blows straight past 'weasel words' and straight to misleading.
Plus in the article, they list a load of non absolute statements, (which as I tried to illustrate in my prior comment, pop-up a lot in normal conversation).
You couldn't have a 'normal' conversation without using 'weasel words'.
I feel its missing the wood for the trees to focus on examples divorced of context, when its the context that matters, not the actual words.
Nice article btw. Installing Vista now.