Our use of meaningless words may be unsustainable


	Our use of meaningless words may be unsustainable

tabsey

9-17-2007 6:22 AM

328 views

tags:

politics, language

tabsey says:

Most voters would agree that a definite statement of fact from a politician is a rare bonus. I am sooooo sick of our PM saying "I think the Australian people would agree with me............ " especially when it is utter crap.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/0e6e4dce-7507-4392-b767-e281ae4813b7/F977F45A-F55A-4F68-8272-7D24E4258B15/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.smh.com.au/news/heckler/our-use-of-meaningless-words-may-be-unsustainable/2007/09/16/1189881339740.html" href="http://www.smh.com.au/news/heckler/our-use-of-meaningless-words-may-be-unsustainable/2007/09/16/1189881339740.html" style="font-size: 11px;">www.smh.com.au</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.smh.com.au/news/heckler/our-use-of-meaningless-words-may-be-unsustainable/2007/09/16/1189881339740.html"><P>There are too many weasel words sucking the life out of the
English language.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.smh.com.au/news/heckler/our-use-of-meaningless-words-may-be-unsustainable/2007/09/16/1189881339740.html"><P>Weasel words, popular with marketing experts and politicians,
are waster words that are a form of sentence stuffing. They add
nothing to enriching our vocabulary and create ambiguity, allowing
you to say things without offending or exposing you to possible
contradiction. They weaken the truth.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.smh.com.au/news/heckler/our-use-of-meaningless-words-may-be-unsustainable/2007/09/16/1189881339740.html"><P>They were forged in the crucible of 19th-century American
politics. They suck the life out of words next to them just as a
weasel sucks an egg dry, leaving its shell intact. The phrase was
later popularised in 1916 by Teddy Roosevelt criticising President
Wilson's term for conscription, "universal voluntary training".</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.smh.com.au/news/heckler/our-use-of-meaningless-words-may-be-unsustainable/2007/09/16/1189881339740.html"><P>Examples include "some people say", which raises three
questions: which people, where, and how many? Or "XYZ toothpaste
combats oral bacteria". Militarily speaking, combat is not winning
so if the bacteria fight back your majestic munchers are in no
better condition.</P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/F977F45A-F55A-4F68-8272-7D24E4258B15/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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