Language and Obfuscation

[aliceBB]

'Collateral damage' is another of those military euphemisms which seems to me to be particularly terrible. Essentially it means killing civilians. The fact that the deaths are unintended isn't much consolation to the civilians or their loved ones.

 

Closer to home, I'm intrigued by the way I am always corrected if I refer to 'the tip'. It's now a 'recyling centre' - except that it isn't, really.

 

Is there a term for people who eat roadkill?

Edited May 14, 2015 by aliceBB

[poppet2]

I note there have been many 'systemic' problems talked about during the 2015 election campaign.

[Cyclone]

I was prompted to start this thread when another forummer used the term 'Freegan' (in response to the case of a couple that had been caught taking food from a Tesco skip. Link to reportage of case: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3078150/Bin-diving-parents-caught-CCTV-stealing-date-food-Tesco-thrown-feed-two-young-children.html).

I'd never heard the term Freegan before, apparently it is "the practice of reclaiming and eating food that has been discarded. Freeganism is often seen as part of a wider anti-consumerist ideology, and freegans often employ a range of alternative living strategies based on limited participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources".

 

Personally speaking, I would've labelled this couple as poor.

 

But it did make me think about how language can be distorted. We all know about 'political correctness' - the idea that we modify language so as to avoid offensiveness. The motivations of those who advocate PC are lampooned as 'do gooders' and it's come in for a fair bit of stick.

 

However terms like Freegans to describe the poor; 'sofa surfers' or 'rough sleepers' to describe the homeless; or 'friendly fire' to describe allies killing those on the same side; or the replacement in the UK from 'social security' to 'welfare' are four examples of what I think, George Orwell would have described as 'official newspeak'. Very different to PC, I think

 

This is only my impression and I could be reading too much into it....But I thought I would throw it open to others for their opinions.

 

Poor and freegan mean different things though, someone can be both, but they could just be one or the other.

 

---------- Post added 14-05-2015 at 20:32 ----------

 

. The term date night is just used to try to inject a dose of pathetic excitement into a tedious relationship and so you can get some imaginary internet point when you tell people about in on facebook, theres literally no other reason to call it that.

 

Recently single or trapped and unhappy? Or you just like to p*ss on other peoples bonfire?

[Funky_Gibbon]

'Fairness', a word we'll hear much of over the next 5 years which apparently means taking money away from those who can't afford it so that those who can afford it can feel better about themselves.

[discodown]

Recently single or trapped and unhappy? Or you just like to p*ss on other peoples bonfire?

Happily married and pragmatic

[Halibut]

I find myself mildly irritated every time I hear someone use the phrase 'passed away', when they mean died. Just say died for crying out loud.

[Cyclone]

Happily married and pragmatic

 

The term date night is just used to try to inject a dose of pathetic excitement into a tedious relationship and so you can get some imaginary internet point when you tell people about in on facebook

 

So someone who says "date night" to describe going out for a meal and cinema or whatever with their spouse, you think, is in a tedious relationship, lacking excitement, and is only doing it to score some 'point' on facebook.

 

You should tell your therapist about it.

[discodown]

So someone who says "date night" to describe going out for a meal and cinema or whatever with their spouse, you think, is in a tedious relationship, lacking excitement, and is only doing it to score some 'point' on facebook.

 

You should tell your therapist about it.

Don't have one

[Cyclone]

Maybe that's why you felt the need to say something that's rather unpleasant to quite a few people.

[discodown]

Maybe that's why you felt the need to say something that's rather unpleasant to quite a few people.

Not at all. You feel the need to spend your days on here being a google warrior boring everyone to death. Maybe you need a therapist, you definitely need to lighten up