Doublespeak

From Wikinfo

Doublespeak is a use of language with common words, which has a second meaning. If you apply common definitions of the words used then you will get an understanding. But in toto the communication means something else. The idea has probably been used by everyone to some extent. For example:

Mom and dad are arguing while Billy watches, fascinated. Dad interrupts the argument to ask Billy, "Don't you have some homework to do?" Which actually means, Get out of here until we finish arguing.

Specialized doublespeak has been created by various groups, including the military and established governments, to disguise or distort actual meaning. This can result in misunderstanding.

The word doublespeak was coined in the early 1950s. Sometime it is incorrectly attributed to George Orwell and his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. The word actually never appears in that novel; Orwell did, however, coin newspeak, oldspeak, and doublethink, and his novel made fashionable composite nouns with speak as the second element, which were unknown in English. Doublespeak may be considered, in Orwell's lexicography, as part of the vocabulary of Newspeak, words "deliberately constructed for political purposes: words, that is to say, which not only had in every case a political implication, but were intended to impose a desirable mental attitude upon the person using them."

Successfully introduced doublespeak, over time, becomes part of the general language, shaping the context in which it is used. See below for discussion of classified and unclassified.

In addition, doublespeak may be in the form of bald euphemisms ("downsizing" for "firing of many employees") or deliberately ambiguous phrases ("wet work" for "assassination").

The process of abbreviating names or forming new words with acronyms or portmanteaus, which arose during the World War and Cold War governments and corporate institutions – with compound elements in a different (usualy the opposite) order to nouns in the equivelet noun phrase &ndah; l is now pervasive (for example: Wikipedia from 'Wiki Encyclopedia,' or Wikinfo form wiki-info, that is, short for 'Information wiki' with the noun order inverted).

Whereas in the early days of the practice it was considered wrong to construct words to disguise meaning, this is now an accepted and established practice. There is a thriving industry in constructing words without explicit meaning but with particular connotations for new products or companies. For example, in 1972 Esso (itself a neologism from the acronym for "Standard Oil") changed to Exxon, a name chosen after the company invested $100 million checking that Exxon does not translate to anything in over 54 languages spanning 154 international markets. The company's first choice, "Enco", was rejected as it translated to "stalled engine" in Japanese. Exxon is still called "Esso" in Europe, Canada and Brazil.

What distinguishes doublespeak from other euphemisms is its deliberate usage by governmental, military, or corporate institutions.

The term has come to be used by extension in the term doublespeak argument, which means a debate where one or more sides puts forth purposely false reasoning for its point of view to disguise its true intentions.

Some examples of doublespeak, with etymologies:

bombs which kill civilians are, according to The Pentagon, "incontinent ordnance" (Lutz)
capital punishment: death penalty
collateral damage: bystander deaths
defense: war
as in Department of Defense, formed by the merging of the Department of War and Department of the Navy
pre-hostility: peace
regime: government (negative term)
unsavory character: criminal
wet work: assassination
area denial munitions: landmines
physical persuasion: torture
physical pressure: torture
plane crash: involuntary conversion (Lutz)
human intelligence: spies
intelligence: spies or secrets
asset (CIA term): foreign spy
disappear (as a transitive verb), neutralize: kill
appeasement: peace (negative term)
freedom fighter: armed political rebel (positive term)
terrorist: armed political rebel (negative term).
Note however, that in scholarly contexts, "terrorist" is usually defined in a way consistent with the biases of the politics of the region where the scholastic institution is located.
homicide bomber: suicide bomber (negative term)
classified: secret
In World War II, secret information was distinguished into classes corresponding to increasing levels of security clearances (more doublespeak there), and came to be called classified information (as in "classified for a particular clearance").
unclassified: not secret
Information which wasn't secret was then called unclassified, which carries the implication that the natural state of information is to be classified, in other words, to be made secret.
downsize, rightsize, RIF (reduction in force): fire employees
job flexibility: lack of job security (where job security means an actual or implied promise of continued employment)
taxpayer: citizen
The word taxpayer means an individual or business that pays taxes, and when used in a discussion of government revenues is not doublespeak. However, using the term interchangeably with citizen does two things. One, it disguises the fact that political policies that benefit individual taxpayers also benefit corporate taxpayers. Two, it appeals to middle-class citizens by excluding citizens perceived to be bludgers, such as welfare beneficiaries and others perceived to pay little or no tax. This usage has become popular in the names of certain conservative and libertarian groups, for example, Taxpayers for Common Sense and National Taxpayers Union in the United States and the Association of Consumers and Taxpayers in New Zealand.

final solution: Holocaust
Doublespeak was very common in the Third Reich. Goebbels' Reichsministerium f�r Volksaufkl�rung und Propaganda (Ministry of the Reich for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda) coined thousands of new German words. Other Examples include: Concentration Camp (labor/death camp), "Heim ins Reich" (occupation of Austria), the meanings of "Volk" (people) and "Rasse" (race).

Wikipedians, particulary there adminstration, also communitcate in doublespeak and many policies and guidelines (many of which seem – to the casual observer – to contradict each other or have loopholes), which may make their reason for issuing, eg bans and blocks seem "normal" to the casual observer when in fact alot of those users posts are good faith with no policy violations: Examples of these terms:

Trolling:Posting material in disagreement with wikipedia administrators or even just asking a few pointed questions, often with the perceived intention of disrupt.
Wikilawyering: Talking about policy when it contradicts administrator consensus and their interpretations of policies and guidelines, even if those interpretation illogical.
Disruption:Disagreement with their so called "Cabal" or any attempt the single handedly conveince the community the change their minds, and thus single handedly manupulating consensus.
POV:Disagreement of content of articles, eg, "That's POV" means "I don't agree with that." POV stands for Point of View.

External link

Doublespeak from Disinfopedia

References

Lutz, William. (1987). Doublespeak: From "Revenue Enhancement" to "Terminal Living": How Government, Business, Advertisers, and Others Use Language to Deceive You. New York: Harper & Row.