tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9721761.post894284996909426568..comments2024-03-19T07:27:06.216-04:00Comments on VOTARIES OF HORROR: Fun with Language: the Power of ConnotationKatherine Woodburyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14364517253667798449noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9721761.post-46079861050437569342012-02-06T20:22:15.411-05:002012-02-06T20:22:15.411-05:00This article made me think of when the police on L...This article made me think of when the police on <i>Law & Order: UK </i> refer to someone as "African-Caribbean." I understand the context (and wonder how many black Americans, such as Sidney Poitier, could also use the term), but every time they say it, I do a mental double-take.<br /><br />THAT reminds me of a <i>Quantum Leap</i> episode where Sam leaps into a member of the Klu Klux Klan. The people around him use the "n--" word without thinking. Every time they do, Sam flinches. It isn't a politically-correct flinch. It is <b>viscerally</b> uncomfortable for him to hear the term. <br /><br />The connection in both cases is how language becomes short-hand to users. The reporter who mistakenly used "African-American" to describe black Tunisian boys in France wasn't being deliberately, uh, stupid (okay, a little). But for her, the word "African-American" was short-hand for the image just as for Sam, the "n--" word is short-hand for racism and prejudice and idiocy. All language really is a kind of pidgin speak. This isn't a right or wrong thing; it's just the way language works (for example, in his autobiography <i>Surprised by Joy</i>, C.S. Lewis discusses learning Greek and how he realized he was beginning to truly comprehend the language when he associated the Greek word for boat NOT with its English translation "boat" but with the image of a boat).Kate Woodburyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06276977170991272672noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9721761.post-6951277145988121772012-02-06T16:57:19.258-05:002012-02-06T16:57:19.258-05:00Here's a succinct discussion of the "euph...Here's a succinct discussion of the "<a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204369404577207252177326914.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLETopOpinion" rel="nofollow">euphemism treadmill</a>."Eugenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03182644885948983861noreply@blogger.com