Wilson: How do you know that, Mr. Chairman?
Ervin: Because I can understand the English language. It is my mother tongue.
Sam Ervin during Watergate hearings
I used to feel that way, that I understood the meaning of words. Lately I've been having my doubts. As a young child I was a bit behind in learning to read, and much of what I read in grade-school was dreadfully boring (see Spot run). In Jr High School I read my first novel and I was hooked.
Now I see my language, a wonderful precise tool for communication becoming as squishy as the handling on an Oldsmobile station wagon. For sure some of the blame goes to our current President. If forcing so much water into someone's lungs that they believe they will drown isn't
Torture: the deliberate, systematic, or wanton infliction of physical or mental suffering by one or more persons in an attempt to force another person to yield information or to make a confession
, than I clearly don't know what that word means.
But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.
George Orwell
Today I heard John McCain tell me I misunderstood the meaning of the word 'surge', silly me, I thought it meant to increase (as in increasing troop levels in Iraq).
Middle class:having approximately average status, income, education, tastes, and the like.
Are people making $300,000 a year really middle class?
I'm told that people in the top 2-3% in income are really middle class (and therefore cannot be asked to contribute any additional taxes).
Racism: the prejudice that members of one race are intrinsically superior to members of other races
I used to think I knew what racism was. Now I'm not so certain. I never thought racism required hate, but some do (I guess by that definition Kanye didn't call Bush a racist, since "not liking" a race isn't the same as "hating" it). I never thought that African-Americans were incapable of it (some do). I expect ridiculous notions from right wing radio, and they don't disappoint (I heard one commentator claim that an officer in the Rodney King beating couldn't be racist because he didn't beat up all the Black people he pulled over).
Feminism: the doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men.
I used to have a co-worker who's bumper sticker said "Feminism is the radical idea that women are people" so I am always surprised by the number of women I meet who disown the term. Is that really an idea that some people have a problem with? (or do they have a different definition of what it means to be a feminist?)
Reform:To change for the better.
or so I thought, until I saw what is meant by reform in Japan, Russia, and France (removing the social safety net).
Socialism: A theory or system of social reform which contemplates a complete reconstruction of society, with a more just and equitable distribution of property and labor.
I'm not sure how to reconcile that with what I saw here where a fellow Kossack called the government intervention into Bear Sterns "Socialism for Corporations". To be fair Socialism has a great many definitions, and not all of them are compatable with one another.
Perhaps the words of Humpty Dumpty are right:
'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone,' it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.'
'The question is,' said Alice, 'whether you can make words mean so many different things.'
'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master - that's all.'
Doublespeak: evasive, ambiguous language that is intended to deceive or confuse.