Special to L. Neil Smith’s The Libertarian Enterprise

Language is vital to rational thought. Likewise, its corruption is vital to prevent the development of that ability. We are beset by NewSpeak from the “politically correct” gangs, so I post some of the more egregious examples below in the hope that readers wish to guard against them:

Not surprisingly, much of the nonsense comes from the feminists [sic]. Such as…

“excited” instead of “enthusiastic” or “eager”. This is verbal hysteria.

“passionate about”. See above.

“reach out to” in place of “contact”. My, isn’t this one just ever so touchie-feelie?!

“verbal assault”. This one means “You said something that I dislike and/or disagree with.” It’s an obvious attempt to criminalise the alleged offender while making the would-be censor appear to be a victim.

“emotional abuse”. See the above.

“wellness”. This one is intentionally vague in order that it can mean anything or nothing to do with physical fitness and health.

“I need you to…” That is an order disguised as the commander’s, well, “need”. Such people need to quit posing as makers of polite requests and be open about their demands.

“You need to…” The above with the subject pronoun changed to make the order more clearly imperative. It also implies that the one being commanded is too stupid to know his own needs so the nice comrade is helping him.

“closure”. Here’s an all-purpose nostrum. It is usually employed to mean, “Let’s all have a good cry, a group hug, and then forget about it.” It’s also a good excuse for “grievance counsellors” to impose their asinine sociology theories on people who have problems enough without them.

“uptick”. A silly euphemism for “an increase”.

“issue”. The New Ager way of saying, “problem”. Do you have an issue with that?

“impact”. Misused as a verb, it saves the speaker from having to try to distinguish between the verb “affect” and its noun consequence, an “effect”.

“grow”. As in “We’re growing our business.” Unless it’s a greenhouse or florists’, this is inaccurate at best. In the age of “eco-warriors” though, this replaces “increase” and “enlarge”. It sounds so “green” too, doesn’t it?!

“STDs” or “Socially Transmitted Diseases”. We no longer use the judgemental “sexually transmitted” or, horror of horrors, the old “venereal” words. This allows people who have literally f*cked up to feel better about it. And it’s all about feelings after all, isn’t it, comrades?

“treatment resistant”. For diseases which are currently incurable. It sounds nicer and holds out false hope for those who have acquired one or more of the above.

“different to”. A faddish expression which its users falsely believe makes them appear to be intellectual. If it is different, it differs from, folks.

“similar from”. The fraternal twin of the above. If it’s similar, it is approaching, therefor it’s moving to.

“PTSD”. Once used to replace the expression “shell shock” for soldiers who have mental problems resulting from combat experience(s), now it is trotted out as an excuse for all manner of bad behaviour by all manner of people. The real problems of war veterans are denigrated by this false association.

“unhoused”. This one has popped up recently since it became all too evident that the junkies and alcoholics who infest our cities not only do not want to live indoors, but they will not do so, except for short periods during which they destroy the free housing provided them by the unwilling taxpayers. Since “homeless” was no longer fooling anyone, the real problem had to be linguistically side-stepped, just as their fecal curbside deposits must be.

These examples are only a short list of the current offenders, and more are invented and imposed with dismaying frequency. However, so long as there are still a few people capable of accurate speech and analytical thinking there is hope for an eventual return of sanity and a time of…

Peace and Liberty.

P.S. Merry Christmas and Pax Vobiscum to one and all.