Definition of Words

[linuxdoctor]

One of my pet peeves has always been the general abuse of words in oral and written conversation. This particular thread is actually inspired by another thread in which I was contributing and a dispute arose over the use of the word 'radical.'

For you humans, and us geniuses most especially, words are extremely important. Words are used in the ordinary sense for mere communication, to be sure, but words have a far more important function; words are used to express ideas, concepts and philosophies. Words and their use are an art in themselves, the author of an artist. For me mere conversation is vulgarity itself, making concrete through words the esoteric musings of the mind is an act of divine inspiration worthy of the angels let alone mere mortals.

It is because words are so important that their meaning be clear. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. How words are used often obscures their true meaning and through usage words can also change their meanings. This process happens most often almost by accident but sometimes it is done deliberately. One such instance is the word 'radical' which is the word in dispute in another thread.

In that thread, the word was used to describe reform minded change. The word itself means no such thing, but through its constant misuse has acquired that meaning in certain circles, mainly political. Some sources even refer to Radicals as people who advocate drastic reform. Certainly Radicals advocate drastic change but whether those changes constitute a reform is matter for history to decide and not those who advocate the changes.

The process of deliberatly changing the meaning of words for political ends is called "political correctness" (pronounced with emphasis on 'political' and not correctness). The purpose of this redefinition is to change the way people think about things along the lines that those who changed the words want you to think about them. The word 'radical' is a case in point. A hundred years a go, a Radical was someone who advocated the violent overthrow of society; today it seems that a Radical is one who advocates drastic reform. Quite a change in a hundred years.

This process is not new, of course. Those in charge of words have been doing it for centuries. During the 1930's, the National Socialist government of Germany was busy changing the meaning of all sorts of German words to give them a Nazi meaning. They called it gleichshaltung, a word that did not exist any any German dictionary before the NS-zeit, and means "bringing into line." Gleichshaltung of course covered much more than just changing the meaning and usage of words but also "brought into line" how one thought and hos one behaved.

In modern terms, gleichshaltung, or 'political' correctness, can be seen in the de-genderfication of the English language which ostensibly promotes gender equality. Like the German gleichshaltung, 'political' correctness as a word, or rather combination of words, did not exist prior to the 1980s'. We no longer use words like salesman and saleswoman put salesperson. Waiter and waitress has become server and stewardess is now flight attendant.

English is not alone in attempting to change people's attitudes through words. In German during the 1980's and 1990's there was an attempt to de-gender the language as well. In German, there are three genders of words, masculine, feminine and neuter (which is a latin word for 'neither'). In English, words like teacher and student can refer equally to a male or a female. In German, however, der Lehrer and der Schüler refer to male teachers and male students. When referring to female versions of teachers and students, an -in would be added to the end of the word and the definite article would change from the masculine to the feminine; thus die Lehrerin and die Schülerin.

'Political' correctness in German took the form of neutering the words (literally) and instead of adding -in to the word they added -In. Subtle, I know, but crucial. Thus, das LehrerIn and das SchülerIn. Fortunately, this never caught on but one periodically still sees this usage in German language journals of the so-called left wing. This spelling 'reform' was intended to do for German words what replacing the -ess in many English words that denote a female with -person.

I find both of these things fairly amusing. First off, English is one of the few European languages that is already gender free. Most of the other languages, like French, Spanish and Italian, have at least two genders and many of them, like German, have three. Unlike English, every word has a gender and how the word is used is very dependent on its gender. The left-wing gleichshalten attempts to remove gender from an already gender free language. What amuses me about the German attempt is that their de-genderfication made no attempt to actually remove gender from the language itself but to do what English had done in removing the male/female distinction from words that would otherwise refer exclusively to males or females.

Needless to say I disapprove of this 'political' correctness of language. I never use words like salesperson but salesman and saleswoman as the case may be and ruthlessly put in their place anyone who dares to presume that they could 'correct' me. It used to be common for people to say to me, "that's not politically correct" my response would invariably be, "if you think that, you have the wrong politics." Fortunately, such occurances are now rare but they still happen.
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Misanthrope: someone who realizes that humans really are as stupid as they appear.

If you think I'm 'politically' incorrect you have the wrong politics.

[pharmer4]

i desperately want to be able to debate you on a subject, because I think it would be very interesting and entertaining.

But

Every time you start a thread, you bring up things that i generally agree with.

saure occassionally the are points you make that i disagree with, but on the whole it's always generally what I think.

On this issue, I agree, political correctness, and further to affirmative action, is idiotic, and while it may lead to some individuals feeling all fuzzy inside, it weakens society.

One thing I won't abide, though, is derogatory language, used to insult, put down, deride or denegrate any individual or group.
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[linuxdoctor]

[LP-SolidRaven]

That's the best part of languages. The context of a word defines more than it's meaning in the dictionary.
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[SE13]

[linuxdoctor]

[spock]

[marinaroz]

While I agree that it is quite rude to 'correct' someone who is using non offensive gender specific or otherwise 'politically correct' wording, I see nothing inherently wrong with using those terms of your free will.

I think de-genderfication (is that even a real word?) is a positive thing, aimed at creating equality. If a job title is not gender specific, like 'stewardess', people of both genders are more likely to go after this job, and receive equal pay for the job.

As for the Nazi angle, implying that something is evil and wrong, simply because it was done by Nazis, is just silly. While Nazis did many evil things to those they perceived as outsiders or inferiors, they did aspire to make a better life for their own. The fact that something was done by Nazis, doesn't automatically make that action wrong, it's just an action and should be looked at separately.


Now, if you brought an example of de-genderfication that did harm when applied, it would be a much more valid argument.
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[Kovacs]

[linuxdoctor]

[paopao00]

[spock]

[ayyub]

[mellymoo]

[clpo13]

The gendered nature of German is making it really hard for me to learn.

Anyways, I'm afraid I don't understand the difference between die Leherin and das LeherIn (other than the gender, of course). I've never seen a capital letter within a word in German.

Whatever the case, I agree that being too politically correct isn't a good thing. I wouldn't go so far as to say dangerous, but it can be very annoying to change a language simply because some people find something offensive about it.
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