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Great read, until the conclusion that Irony and Sarcasm are better weapons against Nicespeak than George Orwell's plain English is. Getting people to speak in

Great read, until the conclusion that Irony and Sarcasm are better weapons against Nicespeak than George Orwell's plain English is. Getting people to speak in vitriolic Opposites is no better than making them speak empty Compliments...

watwut 4y ago
I agree. Both irony and sarcasm are purely emotion based "arguments" and often just socially acceptable lies. Ok, so now you made some service worker feel bad for no reason. They are kind of paid for that, but still. And with that, I find the language author complains about better. If it achieves nothing I just ignore that.
z3c0 4y ago
I agree. The correction to "fake sincerity" isn't "ironic sincerity" - it's just regularly sincerity and old-fashioned earnestness. The article really dates itself with that assertion, because this was written right before the internet saturated every exchange with holier-than-thou sarcasm and multiple layers of irony. Now that we've lived through phenomena like the Wendy's Twitter account and cutesy 404 pages, this just seems terribly off-base.
- sanderjd 4y ago
  Earnestness is so underrated.
readthenotes1 4y ago
You put that better than anyone else could have! ;)
warmcompress 4y ago
"We should try", "may be ... effective"; propositions are not hard conclusions. The biggest whiff for me in this essay is the idea that people aren't acutely aware of the fakeness. It would be like her acknowledging no irony in holding the Rupert Murdoch Professorship in Language and Communication.
- johnea 4y ago
  Irony indeed. This pretty much provides the final proof of the corporate takeover of academia. If you're planning on being faculty in modern higher education, you very well better have some rich person's name in your title! Your alternative? You can always be an underpaid, un-insured, temporary adjunct! This 20 year old article certainly calls out the complete insincerity of the modern corporation's interface to it's customers. Especially when those customers are the retail masses. The really scariest part to me, is that many modern consumers seem to think this is all OK. "As long as the bot keeps kissing my ass I feel so taken care of" <-- This is the ultimate irony...
drewcoo 4y ago
> Getting people to speak in vitriolic Opposites is no better than making them speak empty Compliments... Whereas policing their emotions to make sure they feel the right thing when they make words . . . ew!
omginternets 4y ago
I don’t think sarcasm has to be vitriolic. In response to the example of a store announcement that says “in order to better serve you, we will be closed this afternoon”, one might respond with “I feel better-served already!” There’s hardly any vitriol, and the absurdity of the situation is promptly exposed.

watwut 4y ago

I agree. Both irony and sarcasm are purely emotion based "arguments" and often just socially acceptable lies. Ok, so now you made some service worker feel bad for no reason. They are kind of paid for that, but still. And with that, I find the language author complains about better. If it achieves nothing I just ignore that.

z3c0 4y ago

I agree. The correction to "fake sincerity" isn't "ironic sincerity" - it's just regularly sincerity and old-fashioned earnestness. The article really dates itself with that assertion, because this was written right before the internet saturated every exchange with holier-than-thou sarcasm and multiple layers of irony. Now that we've lived through phenomena like the Wendy's Twitter account and cutesy 404 pages, this just seems terribly off-base.

sanderjd 4y ago
Earnestness is so underrated.

readthenotes1 4y ago

You put that better than anyone else could have! ;)

warmcompress 4y ago

"We should try", "may be ... effective"; propositions are not hard conclusions. The biggest whiff for me in this essay is the idea that people aren't acutely aware of the fakeness. It would be like her acknowledging no irony in holding the Rupert Murdoch Professorship in Language and Communication.

johnea 4y ago
Irony indeed. This pretty much provides the final proof of the corporate takeover of academia. If you're planning on being faculty in modern higher education, you very well better have some rich person's name in your title! Your alternative? You can always be an underpaid, un-insured, temporary adjunct! This 20 year old article certainly calls out the complete insincerity of the modern corporation's interface to it's customers. Especially when those customers are the retail masses. The really scariest part to me, is that many modern consumers seem to think this is all OK. "As long as the bot keeps kissing my ass I feel so taken care of" <-- This is the ultimate irony...

drewcoo 4y ago

> Getting people to speak in vitriolic Opposites is no better than making them speak empty Compliments... Whereas policing their emotions to make sure they feel the right thing when they make words . . . ew!

omginternets 4y ago

I don’t think sarcasm has to be vitriolic. In response to the example of a store announcement that says “in order to better serve you, we will be closed this afternoon”, one might respond with “I feel better-served already!” There’s hardly any vitriol, and the absurdity of the situation is promptly exposed.