Verbal Camouflage.
Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2012 10:13 am
Some call it Verbal Camouflage, other Doublespeak, some Euphemisms … I call it outright lying or at the very least, stretching the truth. I don’t mean the innocuous camouflage, also known as politically correct terminology intended to spare someone’s feelings or to make someone feel their job isn’t as crappy as it probably sounds. I mean most waste disposal personnel probably don’t mind being called garbage collectors or dustmen.
Imagine if Lonnie Donegan had sung about his old man being a garbage disposal man instead of a dustman ….
Or saying to the wife: “I’m just popping down to the volume reduction unit (dump) to offload this tatty old couch.” Or the cop telling his partner that he’d just arrested a hard-core unemployed guy (bum) in depressed socio-economic area (slum.)
I’m talking about the drivel that is spoken by politicians in Washington and London and other western capitals. Stuff like: “After enhanced interrogation (torture) it was discovered that …” Or … “An explosive device in Kabul caused collateral damage.” Instead of “… Blood, guts and severed limbs covered the area after a bomb exploded in Kabul.” I particularly dislike the euphemism “targeted attacks” – a term originally used by Israel and then the USA in order to justify assassinations.
Why don’t they tell us what they doing in plain English as she is spoke?
I mean a fundraiser is a fundraiser, not a finance event.
Imagine if Lonnie Donegan had sung about his old man being a garbage disposal man instead of a dustman ….
Or saying to the wife: “I’m just popping down to the volume reduction unit (dump) to offload this tatty old couch.” Or the cop telling his partner that he’d just arrested a hard-core unemployed guy (bum) in depressed socio-economic area (slum.)
I’m talking about the drivel that is spoken by politicians in Washington and London and other western capitals. Stuff like: “After enhanced interrogation (torture) it was discovered that …” Or … “An explosive device in Kabul caused collateral damage.” Instead of “… Blood, guts and severed limbs covered the area after a bomb exploded in Kabul.” I particularly dislike the euphemism “targeted attacks” – a term originally used by Israel and then the USA in order to justify assassinations.
Why don’t they tell us what they doing in plain English as she is spoke?
I mean a fundraiser is a fundraiser, not a finance event.