Language: the power and the frustration

Shakespeare used around 15,000 words.  If he couldn't find the word he needed he invented it.  The average English speaker today knows around 2,500.  The average big-city newspaper uses about 850.  Knowing all of this I should be pleased and impressed, have a 'right on' attitude, towards the shows on television that try to expand the vocabulary of their characters. Should….but I don't.  It irritates the hell ought of me!  There is a difference in having a good command of your native tongue and unnecessarily making things sound complicated, important or ambiguous.  We were watching 'Law and Order' (pronounced 'Lor and Awde' by the British announcer) the other night.  One of the cops Civil Disobedience Control Officers was pointing to the wall at the "weapon projectile entrance crater".  Bullet hole.  I find this phenomenon particularly rampant in 'Cop' shows.  Guns are now weapons.  Cars are vehicles.  This is all absolutely correct but if I'm screaming at someone why would I pick the 3 syllable word over the one syllable?  Why yell "Remove yourself from the vehicle" when "get outta the car" would work?  Why is "He proceeded to discharge his weapon" considered more understandable than "He fired" or "He shot his gun"  Of course, on these same shows, when they have a perfectly good 'big' word they immediately shorten it:  Perpetrator (as in 'of the crime') becomes 'perp' and victim (as in 'of the crime') becomes 'vic'. 
We also see this in corporations and government.  My favorite or, more appropriate, least favorite of these 'fancy' terms is 'collateral damage'.  I suppose we couldn't actually have the government say they killed the wrong people but even the old 'casualties of war' clearly let one know that it wasn't just an empty building that was destroyed.  'Friendly fire' is another.  Can you think of anything less friendly than being shot at by the guys supposedly protecting your back (so to speak)?
Does the substitution of long or less common words for the simple makes us sound smarter?  Or just like the old portrayals of the mafia 'dons' in the movies?  More importantly to me….do the French do that in their television shows?  If I am trying to improve my French by watching the telly am I going to end up sounding ridiculous, er, more ridiculous than I already do?  Is my counterpart in the U.S., some nice French woman writing a blog on 'Living in America', learning English from watching these shows?  Poor woman….in more ways than one….
We went on a bike ride yesterday, on a proper bike trail along a canal.  It was as flat as Iowa, treeless and boring.  Now you know where my mind went.
What are your favorite euphemism?

4 thoughts on “Language: the power and the frustration”

  1. I hope you feel better….just kidding! What you said is TOTALLY true! Such a play on words. . . . we all observe. Good for you to see the “craziness” of it all……bet that was a great bike ride! Enjoyed very much what you had to say!!!

  2. I deal with these issues daily at the newspaper where I work.
    “Law & Order” comes up with some very interesting euphemisms for — ah — bodily functions — that maybe I should not mention on a food blog. Anyway, they always amaze me.

  3. Katie,
    There are two euphemisms that I find particularly odious.
    The first is a personal one and it is the term “Out Migration” to describe the exodus of people, for economic reasons, from rural Newfoundland to more prosperous places such as St. John’s or Alberta.
    That phrase does not begin to describe the destruction to a way of life and culture that has existed for over five hundred years, or to the devastating impact it has had on people, their families, and communities.
    I agree with you about the phrase “Collateral Damage” to describe the killing of innocent people during war. If we are going to wage wars then we can at least label what happens during them in plain English. Cruel atrocities happen, on both sides, during war time whether the wars are just or not.
    Mike

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