Doublespeak Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Doublespeak is language deliberately constructed to disguise or distort its actual meaning, often resulting in a "communication bypass". Such language is associated with governmental, military, and corporate institutions. Doublespeak may be in the form of bald euphemisms ("downsizing" for "firing of many employees") or deliberately ambiguous phrases ("wet work" for "assassination"). Doublespeak is distinguished from other euphemisms through its deliberate usage by governmental, military, or corporate institutions.
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2 Use of the Term 3 Examples of doublespeak in current usage 4 See also 5 External link 6 References |
The word doublespeak was coined in the early 1950s. It is often incorrectly attributed to George Orwell and his dystopian 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 previously unknown in English. It was therefore just a matter of time before someone came up with doublespeak. Doublespeak may be considered, in Orwell's lexicography, as the B 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. 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, is now pervasive (for example: Wikipedia from "Wiki Encyclopedia"). The term has also 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.
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. Similarly, the Windscale nuclear processing facility in Britain was renamed Sellafield when it was privatised, in the hope that the public wouldn't associate the new owners with the Windscale fire, the UK's worst nuclear disaster.
Here are some examples of doublespeak in current English usage, with etymologies and examples of clearer, simpler words which are being avoided:
This is an Article on Doublespeak. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About Doublespeak History of the Term
Use of the Term
Examples of doublespeak in current usage
Corporate
Espionage
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").
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.
Military
as in Department of Defense, formed by the merging of the Department of War and Department of the Navy
Political
Doublespeak was very common in the Third Reich. Goebbels' Reichsministerium für Volksaufklärung 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).
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. More subtly, use of this term dilutes the idea of citizenship itself, and implies that there is nothing more to society than mere economic rationalism, as per Margaret Thatcher's famous pronouncement. This usage has become popular in the names of certain conservative libertarian groups, for example, Taxpayers for Common Sense and National Taxpayers Union in the United States and the lobby group Association of Consumers and Taxpayers in New Zealand.Social
See also
External link
References