Monday, January 20, 2014

doublespeak

Doublespeak is language that deliberately disguises, distorts, or reverses the meaning of words. Doublespeak may take the form of euphemisms (e.g., "downsizing" for layoffs, "servicing the target" for bombing [1]), in which case it is primarily meant to make the truth sound more palatable. It may also refer to intentional ambiguity in language or to actual inversions of meaning (for example, naming a state of war "peace"). In such cases, doublespeak disguises the nature of the truth. Doublespeak is most closely associated with political language.

Here's some words of the pulpit that can be doublespeak:

doublespeak, cartoon by robg

Speaking about gay marriage, a well-known pastor recently said, “Don’t take a term and and make it something different. Orwell talked about doublespeak, where words mean the exact opposite of what they used to mean.”

He seems to be suggesting that the way gay people use the word "marriage" is the exact opposite of what marriage "really means" or used to mean. This handy chart shows that there are very few differences between the two, making me wonder who is really the one "doublespeaking":

comparison traditional marriage gay marriage
two people yes yes
life-long commitment yes yes
mutual relationship yes yes
love yes yes
one man and one woman yes no
traditionally based on ownership yes no


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