Semantic Engineering Needed to Strengthen the Lexicon

Author: Jim Guirard

Source: TrueSpeak.org

Lee Cary's highly detailed November 15, 2009 article -- "The AT Readers' Complete Lexicon of Political Speech" -- describes quite accurately the distorted and deceptive meanings that the radical Left is routinely giving to a long list of common words and phrases in our political discourse.

But even this 70-point expose' covers only one important element -- the already existing words element -- of the global "war of words" which is being waged against those of us who share the fundamental truth-in-language concerns cited by Confucius 2400 years ago. When asked what would be his first priority if he were placed in charge of the Government, the great Chinese thinker replied:

"It would certainly be to correct language. If language is not correct then what is said is not what is meant. If what is said is not what is meant, then what ought to be done remains undone.. If this remains undone, then morals and acts deteriorate. If morals and acts deteriorate, justice will go astray. If justice goes astray, the people will stand about in helpless confusion. Hence, there must be no arbitrariness in what is said. This matters above everything."

Surely, Lee Cary's list will provide much grist for such corrections -- if concerned word warriors will actually get busy fighting for the truthful language we need so badly. But what about the equally urgent need for an arsenal of new words, labels, acronyms and frames of reference which might help to counterbalance the radical Left's cynical manipulation of so many existing ones?

Inventing new semantic weapons

Over the past several years, TrueSpeak.org articles in various venues have recommended some two dozen such new words, phrases and acronyms for inclusion in the political lexicon. These are coined and engineered terms which cover several different but overlapping disciplines -- political, military, environmental, economic, religious, ideological, sociological, egotistical and more.

Although many of these new semantic tools are transparently anti-Left, anti-"Progressive" and anti-Obama, they are neither "right-wing Republican" nor even "partisan" -- because they are presented by a lifelong Center-right Democrat and former Chief-of-Staff for almost two decades to three distinguished Democratic Committee Chairmen in the US House of Representatives and the US Senate. With that said, consider the following useful new additions to the language:

1. Branch Carbonian Cult -- new name for the Gore-inspired -- and now Obama-led -- pseudo-religious cult based on the false premise that man-made CO2 is the primary cause of Global Warming. (For a complete explanation, see http://www.americanthinker.com/jim_guirard/)

2. Scamalot -- an invidious comparison to the purportedly noble and heroic "Camelot" Era of John and Jackie Kennedy -- and a fitting legacy label for the ignoble and scam-filled, "Audacity of Hype” Era of Barack and Michelle Obama. (Do these people scam just a little, or do they Scamalot?)

3. Communoid -- communist-like and, in the case of many so-called "former" communists, perhaps still-communist or single-party Socialist.

4. CommieCzar -- shorthand for a self-declared Communist (or communoid) "President for Life" such as Hugo Chavez of Venezuela -- or for an Obama-appointed regulatory "Czar" such as Van Jones who is, in fact, a communist.

5. Bolshivarian Revolution -- correct new name (La Revolucion Chavista-Bolshevista in Spanish) for Hugo Chavez' so-called "Bolivarian Revolution." (Simon Bolivar was a nationalist, not a Chavista Communist.)

6. Cubazuela -- new name for today's Cuba-like, fascist-Left former South American democracy of Venezuela

7. Cubazuelan Empire -- new name for the narco-communoid, "Socialism or Death" Latin American empire of Cuba, Cubazuela, Cubaragua, Bolivia and Equador -- and with Honduras still in danger of being sucked in, as well

8. OutForcing -- forcing jobs out of America by over-taxation, over-regulation, NIMBY factors, no tort law reform, less energy at higher prices

9. DownForcing -- the current Obama-Pelosi-Reid policy forcing down (and even out) most major domestic sources of energy supply

10. Eeekology -- scare-tactics environmentalism of the "sky is falling" Branch Carbonian Cult variety

11. Eeekonomics -- scare-tactics economic news and doomsday propaganda about the American economy, usually calling for "Progressive" (long the radical Left's codeword for Socialist) solutions

12. Exsurgents -- violent and terroristic agitators coming from outside the country or the region, while "insurgents" come from inside

13. Fu'ther-mucking Progressives -- "mucking" things up even fu'ther than they already are, and making everything "Progressively" WORSE in the process

14. GreenOuts -- expected electricity "blackouts" and "brownouts" caused by the Branch Carbonian Cult's "Green" policies re both environment and energy

15. Great LEAHP Backward -- inevitable result of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid "Progressive" job-killing policies of Less Energy At Higher Prices (LEAHP)

15. Gulag Guevara -- Cuba's brutal and highly secretive "Che" Guevara-designed prison system, of which this Argentine psychopath was the first de facto warden, torturer and coup de gras executioner

16. OPRAH Land -- acronym label for the "Obama-Pelosi-Reid And Hillary" Administration now in power in the Congress, the White House, the Washington bureaucracy and major parts of the Economy, as well

17. Pairriage -- new word for so-called "same sex marriage" and "same sex unions," based on the non-pejorative and merely descriptive word "pair" -- meaning two of a kind or two of the same, and avoiding any version whatever of the word "marriage"

18. POOTUS -- Obama-related acronym for "Proponent of Over-Taxing US," patterned after the Bush related label POTUS (President of the United States)

19. ProgSoc -- an Orwellian "EngSoc"-style label for the "Progressive Socialist" ideology championed by Barack Obama and his radical-Left entourage

20. Properganda -- spreading of selective but objectively truthful information, as contrasted to the presumed falsity and deception of "propaganda"

21. Quondam Fi -- Latin antonym for the US Marine Corps' "Semper Fi" (Always Faithful) slogan and meaning "Formerly Faithful" or "No Longer Faithful" -- as in the case of Rep. John Murtha

22. Diplunacy -- international diplomacy of a foolish, wasteful, bureaucratic or even lunatic quality, typical of the endlessly perverse United Nations

23. "AWOL" (new political, anti-war meaning) -- those who are Always Weak On Liberty, as opposed to the traditional military meaning of "Absent With-Out Leave"

[Post-publication alternative: AAWOL – Almost Always Weak On Liberty]

24. "ACE" (new political, anti-war meaning) -- those traitorous types who are giving "Aid and Comfort to the Enemy," as opposed to an "ACE" fighter pilot or a best-of-the-best competitor or contestant

25. “AIDS" (new socio-economic meaning) -- which is the geo-political acronym for Aggravating, Insufferable, Debilitating Socialism (a.k.a., "Progressivism")


While some of these mostly “politically incorrect’ words will be more relevant and useful than others, all of them should be evaluated and creatively used – particularly in light of the above quotation from Confucius and in keeping with very similar words of wisdom from the late, great US Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

It was Moynihan and Dr. Fred Charles Ikle, President Reagan's Under-Secretary of Defense for Policy, who defined and worried greatly about the Cold War problem of "semantic infiltration" (and its Soviet-inspired manipulation of language) as follows:

“Simply put, semantic infiltration is the process whereby we come to adopt the language of our adversaries in describing political reality. The most totalitarian regimes in the world would call themselves ‘liberation movements.’ It is perfectly predictable that they should misuse words to conceal their real nature. But must we aid them in that effort by repeating those words? Worse, do we begin to influence our own perceptions by using them?”

In today's context, both the "arbitrariness" about which Confucius was so concerned and the "infiltration" and self-deceptive parroting about which Moynihan and Ikle worried greatly should greatly worry us, as well.

Notice, please, how very similar today's Obaman language of "Black Liberation Theology" and "Progressive Movements" and "Social Justice" is to Fidel Castro's and Hugo Chavez' anti-American, anti-Capitalist and "Group Rights" language of what they proudly call "21st Century Socialism" -- which is the euphemistic Communist name for Egalitarian Poverty and Repression Forever.


JIM GUIRARD -- TrueSpeak.org 703-768-0957 Justcauses@aol.com