Posted on 10/11/2013 5:28:19 AM PDT by COBOL2Java
Politics occasionally drive John Boehner to tears, but rarely to plain English. Gobbledygook is the Washington disease, and the Republicans have a bad case of it. Wonkery was not invented in Washington, but Washington is where it thrives.
Corporate-speak is closely related to government gobbledygook, and those most fluent in the tongue have been carefully trained and tutored in using words not to amplify meanings, but to hide them. One way to do this is to use five words when one or two will do. Perfumed words are preferred. Initials and acronyms are best of all.
The Democrats are rarely wordsmiths, but they understand that plain people — i.e., most of us — understand plain words. Short words are good, Winston Churchill observed, and familiar words are better. Short, familiar words are best of all. Ronald Reagan knew this, which is why he was called the great communicator. Many Republicans, having inherited corporate genes, have never learned it.
This becomes crucial when there’s a crisis, and nobody wants the further misery of trying to figure out inside-the-Beltway terms of art, when congressmen speak of the CBO and OMB, the GDP and the AMB, and the politicians argue about whether a CR will satisfy the grunions at the EOB. FBI, GOP and maybe AFL-CIO are about all the alphabet soup that most Americans can digest.
Facts, the wise man said, can’t speak for themselves and depend on someone else to distort them. In the current crisis, President Obama and the Democrats have the media at their back, as they nearly always do.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
“The Democrats are rarely wordsmiths...”
I disagree with Pruden on this observation. Dems are masters of language use. Republicans too often fall into the trap of using the words that Dems favor, and thereby giving up most of the argument.
Current example: Clean Resolution
actually means no strings attached
but the Dems have morphed its meaning into standing for Continuing Resolution
which means sending the entire budget replacement to the Senate in one, comprehensive, and unchangeable Bill.
Actually means Blank Check.
“...using words not to amplify meanings, but to hide them.”
Where I come from, this is known as LYING!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.