Loaded Terms
When human beings want to mislead someone, they will often use loaded terms. Loaded terms are words or phrases that have emotional overtones or connotations that evoke strongly positive or negative reactions far beyond the specific meaning of the word as defined by, say, the dictionary. There are obvious ones that anyone with an IQ above 45 can identify and these can be found in the lexicon of Republicans (i.e. freedom, liberal, Patriot Act).
There also seems to be more subtle ones as well that most people don’t even think about. For instance, “childish” and “childlike” mean the same thing, but one has a positive spin and one has a negative spin. “Gay marriage” seems to evoke different feelings than “same-sex marriage”. “Dilation and extraction” is refered to by many as “partial birth abortion”. At least in all of these cases an option exists. One can choose to use one term over another to control the meaning and overtone.
There are a whole slew of terminology in the English language where one does not have that choice. Essentially, one is forced to use loaded terminology to communicate because there exists no viable alternative. Time is an example. In English, we are mostly forced to speak of time as if it were money. “How much time do we have?” “How do you spend your time?” “I don’t have the time to do that.” Now, you can try to get around it by refering to it as a distance. “How long until we are finished?” And you can speak of time like it’s a river or something. “How do you pass the time?” But, for the most part, unless we want to sound weird, we are trapped using the money analogy. The result? Americans and other English speakers feel like time can be wasted and and feel guilty about sleeping and watching TV. They must invest time and spend it wisely. They work when they are young in order to have their returns when they are old. Much of the world doesn’t think this way and perhaps they are happier because they are not so worried about it.
Other inescapable terms include round numbers and names. Puerto Rico seems to be denied statehood because fifty is nifty and everyone seems to get depressed at thirty years of age. The Dark Ages will always be seen as a negative period when it wasn’t really that bad and men named John will probably be met with a different reaction versus people named Lance, Dick or Adolfo.
Of course, maybe all terms are loaded in one way or another and we are doomed to suffer from bias on everything. The way we speak and write tells us so much about a human being. Whether someone uses “much” versus “a lot” in their writing can completely change your opinion of someone on a subconscience level. It is ironic that communication, the very thing that attempts to eliminate subjectivity by forming shared experience, is hopelessly subjective. The best we can do is try to minimize is.
There also seems to be more subtle ones as well that most people don’t even think about. For instance, “childish” and “childlike” mean the same thing, but one has a positive spin and one has a negative spin. “Gay marriage” seems to evoke different feelings than “same-sex marriage”. “Dilation and extraction” is refered to by many as “partial birth abortion”. At least in all of these cases an option exists. One can choose to use one term over another to control the meaning and overtone.
There are a whole slew of terminology in the English language where one does not have that choice. Essentially, one is forced to use loaded terminology to communicate because there exists no viable alternative. Time is an example. In English, we are mostly forced to speak of time as if it were money. “How much time do we have?” “How do you spend your time?” “I don’t have the time to do that.” Now, you can try to get around it by refering to it as a distance. “How long until we are finished?” And you can speak of time like it’s a river or something. “How do you pass the time?” But, for the most part, unless we want to sound weird, we are trapped using the money analogy. The result? Americans and other English speakers feel like time can be wasted and and feel guilty about sleeping and watching TV. They must invest time and spend it wisely. They work when they are young in order to have their returns when they are old. Much of the world doesn’t think this way and perhaps they are happier because they are not so worried about it.
Other inescapable terms include round numbers and names. Puerto Rico seems to be denied statehood because fifty is nifty and everyone seems to get depressed at thirty years of age. The Dark Ages will always be seen as a negative period when it wasn’t really that bad and men named John will probably be met with a different reaction versus people named Lance, Dick or Adolfo.
Of course, maybe all terms are loaded in one way or another and we are doomed to suffer from bias on everything. The way we speak and write tells us so much about a human being. Whether someone uses “much” versus “a lot” in their writing can completely change your opinion of someone on a subconscience level. It is ironic that communication, the very thing that attempts to eliminate subjectivity by forming shared experience, is hopelessly subjective. The best we can do is try to minimize is.
posted by American Dilettante at
4:09 PM
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