{"id":23730,"date":"2012-09-27T09:33:20","date_gmt":"2012-09-27T14:33:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/?p=23730"},"modified":"2012-09-27T09:33:20","modified_gmt":"2012-09-27T14:33:20","slug":"when-words-distort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/09\/when-words-distort\/","title":{"rendered":"When Words Distort"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve always been fascinated with the power words have to convey subtle shades of meaning.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

People are usually considered good communicators when they are able to \u201cget to the point\u201d without cluttering the air with lot of unnecessary words.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There are times, however, when we deliberately avoid being direct.<\/p>\n

More often than we realize we make calculated efforts to soften the impact of what would otherwise be a very blunt, harsh, or crude message. The name of this practice is euphemism<\/em> and we do it all the time.<\/p>\n

eu\u2022phe\u2022mism\/\u02c8yo\u035eof\u0259\u02ccmiz\u0259m\/<\/strong>
\n Noun: A mild or indirect word or expression for one too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sometimes euphemisms are used in charity such as when we say that Uncle Charlie is \u201cmature\u201d and \u201cspirited\u201d when we really mean he is old and cranky.\u00a0 We say someone is \u201cbig\u201d, when we really mean they are \u201coverweight.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the professional world, euphemisms are frequently employed to provide \u201cspin\u201d to stories, such as when we say the company is \u201cdownsizing\u201d or \u201crightsizing, \u201d rather than saying it is conducting mass layoffs.<\/p>\n

But there is an even more \u00a0sinister and insidious side to the use of euphemisms when they are used to conceal, deceive, or desensitize people to the realities of evil.<\/p>\n

Nowhere is this more clearly seen than in the current political debates surrounding issues of morality.<\/p>\n

Recently we\u2019ve seen what amounts to the hijacking of language when terms such as \u201creproductive healthcare\u201d and \u201cpersonal choice\u201d are deployed as euphemisms which effectively allow us to avoid thinking about the ugliness of \u00a0abortion.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 After all who would be against something as good as “health care”, or opposed to giving people “choices”?<\/p>\n

Phrases like \u201cwho you love\u201d and \u201cequality\u201d are skillfully woven into campaigns to redefine the objective meaning of institutions like marriage and family as if to imply that anyone holding a traditional understanding of\u00a0 \u00a0these terms are opposed to universal values like love and equality.<\/p>\n

We frequently hear that it\u2019s time for us to \u201cmove forward\u201d to catch up to the times and to embrace the new cultural norms. The real question however is \u201cwhat do we MEAN when we say we want to move the country forward\u201d?\u00a0\u00a0 To move forward implies a real destination, but what is that destination?\u00a0\u00a0 As Gil Bailie said in a recent essay,<\/p>\n

\u201cAs for moving this country forward,\u201d what, pray God, will that promised land look like if the path to it is paved with dead children?\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0 (The Cornerstone Forum\u00a0-Notes in the Margins,Wednesday, September 12, 2012)<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

G.K. Chesterton saw the problem of euphemism almost 100 years ago when he wrote the following observation:<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cWhat is quaintly called Birth Control . . . is in fact, of course, a scheme for preventing birth in order to escape control.\u201d (\u201cThe Surrender upon Sex\u201d \u2013 The Well and the Shallows)<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Chesterton noticed the tendency of so-called rationalists to resort to softer \u201cfeel-good\u201d words in order to promote immoral ideas.<\/p>\n

We can always convict such people of sentimentalism by their weakness for euphemism. \u2026 They talk of free love when they mean something quite different, better defined as free lust. But being sentimentalists they feel bound to simper and coo over the word \u201clove.\u201d They insist on talking about Birth Control when they mean less birth and no control.\u201d (\u201cObstinate Orthodoxy\u201d \u2013 The Thing)<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Real communication requires that language be used in a way that actually communicates.\u00a0 Dialog is impossible without a common language, but the language has to be to TELL the truth, not\u00a0HIDE the truth.<\/p>\n

As we seek to promote what is good, true, and beautiful, we must insist that words be used accurately and that they lead us toward truth.\u00a0 We need to pay attention to the both words USED —\u00a0and words AVOIDED.<\/p>\n

It has been said that truth, like a magnet, has the power to both attract and repel.\u00a0 If language is used to prevent the truth from being exposed, no real discussion, debate or dialog is even possible.<\/p>\n

Sin\u00a0by any other name is still sin, and words can\u2019t change that.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve always been fascinated with the power words have to convey subtle shades of meaning. People are usually considered good communicators when they are able to \u201cget to the point\u201d without cluttering the air with lot of unnecessary words.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There are times, however, when we deliberately avoid being direct. More often than we realize we… [Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[289,193,81,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-23730","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-blog","7":"tag-abortion","8":"tag-love","9":"tag-marriage","10":"tag-pro-life","11":"entry","12":"has-post-thumbnail"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":41194,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2013\/08\/sunday-says-podcast-august-18-2013-mass-readings-and-reflection\/","url_meta":{"origin":23730,"position":0},"title":"Sunday Says Podcast – August 18, 2013 Mass Readings and Reflection","author":"Crist\u00f3bal Almanza Herrera","date":"August 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"[powerpress] Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time Readings for August 18, 2013\u00a0-\u00a0Lectionary: 120 Reflection starts at 3:30 minute mark. 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