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George Carlin's "Soft Language" (2019)
- harryvederci 3y agoMy favourite one in Dutch: People with a disability used to be called "handicapped". At some point, that was no longer acceptable. The correct term to use became "invalid". So it was better to say "that person is invalid" than "that person is handicapped".
- 0xbadc0de5 3y agoAnother example Carlin provides is "cripple". It can be used as both an adjective and as a verb and concisely describes the situation. It's entirely neutral and free of euphemism. He also makes a similar argument for "retarded".
- Tao3300 3y agoI think the problem with "retarded" was that it became a pejorative. It's also just a harsh sounding word.
- poszlem 3y agoThe term turned negative because it represented something that no one wanted to be associated with. Even if you were to use the phrase "unicorn-blessed" in the same context, over time, it could also develop a negative connotation. It's not the terminology that's a problem, but the situation it describes. "Idiot", "moron", and "imbecile" used to be medical terms.
- itronitron 3y ago>> if you were to use the phrase "unicorn-blessed" yeah, that exact thing happened with the word "special"
- apricot 3y agoToday, one often hears "He is special needs" said by people who think they are being politically correct. But that's awfully wrong. He might have special needs, but he is not needs. He is a person. To me, that's a lot more dehumanizing than saying "retarded". Then they'll say "but you know what I mean". That's the point, exactly.
- 0xbadc0de5 3y agoThe ultimate culmination being certain subreddits where the banned "retarded" has been replaced by the homonym "regarded", such that referring to someone as "highly regarded" is understood to mean the former, not the latter.
- rootusrootus 3y agoAt some point we may collectively realize that controlling language in such a way is impossible. People will just find alternative ways to express exactly the same sentiment.
- Tao3300 3y agoThat's pretty ducking clever
- JasserInicide 3y agoApparently you can't say "suicide" anymore in YouTube videos because it's automatic demonetization so people are now saying "unalive"
- apricot 3y agoIn China, similar tricks are used to work around automatic censorship. For instance, in the early days of the covid pandemic: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/03/china-social-media-language-government-censorship-covid/ https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/03/china-social-...
- rpmisms 3y agoRetarded means "slowed down". It's a very good word, and even better as an insult.
- rootusrootus 3y agoIt'll also get you banned pretty fast in the majority of subreddits, despite the fact that very few people today (and even fewer who use reddit) were ever legitimately referred to as retarded back in the day.
- rpmisms 3y agoReddit is a bit of an odd environment. It's moderated by people with zero life.
- faeriechangling 3y agoI was called it in both senses of the word and I think that was extremely common for people of a certain generation. I saw the full time special ed getting called that more than occasionally. There were all sorts of popular memes like “arguing on the internet is like winning the special olympics…” What do you know? The biggest thing I noticed after “retard” fell out of favour is more specific insults like “autist” became more prevalent and I’d say this rotation of the euphemism treadmill has only made stigma worse for certain groups because “retard” was used as such a catch-all that the stigma of it didn’t really seem to stick to people much. As for banning slurs from Reddit, irrespective of slurs should be banned for the good of those being slurred, they cause derails and are magnets for reports.
- ad404b8a372f2b9 3y agoThat's funny we went the opposite way in France, "invalid" in the past, now "handicapped".
- drivingmenuts 3y agoI have heard the term "differently abled" kicked around, which completely buries the actual issue. As a "differently abled" person, I will say I don't need to go hiding my handicap, I'd much rather someone figure out to help me adapt better or just fix it, rather than hiding it. I know I have a problem, I have it all day every day. Why are people who don't have my problems so concerned about just saying it out loud?
- ad404b8a372f2b9 3y agoI find it reprehensible. Lots of hot air to accomplish nothing at all except making a few activists feel good about themselves. The online disabled community has been completely poisoned by it sadly.
- addcommitpush 3y agoYou're late. It's en situation de handicap now, not invalide or handicapé. See for instance https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F31029 https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F31029
- Cthulhu_ 3y agoThat's not even the end of it, because there's also "mindervalide", "less-valid", or "iemand met een beperking", "someone with a limitation".
- filmor 3y agoInvalid is derived from Latin with validus meaning "strong" or "in order". The German and Dutch uses of the word are derived directly from invalidus meaning ~"weak" (maybe via French), while the English word (as its mostly used) is an English(!) negation of "valid", which leans on the "in order" part to get to "inappropriate" or "not correct".
- seabass-labrax 3y ago'Invalid' (a weak person) is also pronounced with an 'ə' (in-vuh-lid) in English, whereas 'Invalid' (a improper thing) is pronounced with an 'a' (in-va-lid).
- squarefoot 3y agoGeorge Carlin should be studied, translated and dubbed in every possible language.
- jacquesm 3y agoThe better stand-up comedians are hard to distinguish from philosophers. Carlin is right up there. It's a pity he's gone, we kind of need him right now.
- lapcat 3y ago> The better stand-up comedians are hard to distinguish from philosophers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoZ3bu23BMA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoZ3bu23BMA
- hfuyf65 3y agoHe would have had a field day if he was alive. It is a loss for all of us that he is gone. Still, we now have Chapelle, who is building similiar legacy and potentially Bill Burr one day. Absolute agreement on the philosopher/jester vibes.
- jdub 3y agoThey're not even in the same sport, let alone the same league.
- hfuyf65 3y agoNot yet, but if you watch early Carlin it is the same pattern: 1. initially safe,sanitized corporate friendly jokes 2. some commercial success 3. ? 4. jokes increasingly become a social commentary and are less and less 'friendly'
- LinuxBender 3y agoI remember early Carlin and he pushed the legal limits of radio and TV broadcast from the start. AFAIK he was also the first to cross the lines with the "7 words" one can not say on that industry. He was always providing commentary on society but what I noticed was that his views got darker and more jaded with time. He started off using his knowledge of language to be rebellious and edgy, then delving more into self analysis tearing himself apart for self deprecating routines then eventually teasing and tearing society apart.
- Rolpa 3y agohttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_and_the_English_Language https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_and_the_English_Lan...
- latexr 3y agoLink to the bit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o25I2fzFGoY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o25I2fzFGoY
- oceanplexian 3y agoThe idea comes straight out of modern Academia. It’s also called linguistic relativity, and critical theory, literary theory, and postmodernism all have roots in it. The idea is that if you believe hard enough, for example a duck can actually be a goose depending on what “lens” you see it though Obviously, this is ridiculous. But this has invaded our culture like a cancer and is responsible for the proliferation of PC language in the last few years.
- bazoom42 3y agoEuphemisms are not particular to academia. Euphemisms for sex and death are as old as language.
- pauldenton 3y agoSure but it's especially bad in academia recently. "You cannot be racist against white people. If it's against white people it's not racist" kind of language. Or you know. Whites not need apply. This program is for every race except Caucasian
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- bazoom42 3y agoThese are not examples of euphemisms.
- constantly 3y agoWhat’s the effect here? I don’t think I like soft language, but can’t really pinpoint why I don’t like it. Is it bad that some company came up with toilet paper and now it’s bathroom tissue? Shell shock is now PTSD? Who cares?
- MatekCopatek 3y agoIt affects your perception, optimizing production costs is easier to do and less morally problematic than firing people.
- Tao3300 3y ago> morally problematic ...which is a soft way to say "wrong" or "evil"
- dralley 3y agoA common theme with a lot of Carlin rants - they resonate well, but they're completely wrong. I don't think we want to describe sexual assault victims as having "shell shock". Even a soldier could get "shell shock" without encountering any shells. The language got softer not because we're all a bunch of softies but because we noticed a general pattern and generalized the name to match.
- hfuyf65 3y agoIf they resonate well, it either means the population as whole thinks it is accurate or that the population as a wholr is wrong. Either is possible, but I think you are wrong about Carlin being wrong. Language defines the quality of our conversations. If we can't be honest with it, some nuance will be lost.
- constantly 3y agoThere are many things in the middle of the false dichotomy you’ve presented. Such as “people don’t really think about it deeply and it sounds superficially good so they like it” or “people laugh because he’s a comedian but don’t take it seriously because of same.”
- mrtksn 3y ago>"Americans have trouble facing the truth," Carlin said. "So they invent a kind of a soft language to protect themselves from it" It is useful and not limited to Americans, that's why people do it. Much more people would have been vegans or they would be much more indifferent to violence if every pack of meat had a QR code to a video showing the life and processing of that particular animal. It's also not just softening that's practiced but hardening too. We dehumanise people all the time if we want to suppress them or kill them institutionally. We humans like to live in an idealised reality, a fiction where we are just and don't practice cruelty, our parent's don't have sex, people have roles(social roles, gender roles, political roles etc) and they always act in a way to honour that. The reality is much more different of course, we kill animals at scale we call terrorist or another dirty word those who we have institutional violent conflicts with and exterminate them, our parents have sex just like anyone else, mothers/fathers/leaders/police/ceo's are human too and they have human desires and human faults. Then there's cultural movements trying to bring these things closer to reality or push them into a new virtual reality. The sex revolution in the west that the eastern world never had for example creates huge divide between lifestyle and family structures between westerners and easterners(it's not that easterner are backward, it's simply another path they took). The more devout muslims practice ceremonial animal sacrifice which often happens on the streets with kids around, so they tend to have different relationship with the animal killing(no, they are cruelty or anything like that, it's just different). IMHO, it's nothing special to Americans but Americans tend to have control over the pop culture because the USA is the dominant culture of the last century. Also, Americans are masters of marketing and they choose their words very intentionally(like the discussion over abortions are framed like "pro choice" and "pro life", which can be very confusing for non-americans).
- selfhoster11 3y ago> Much more people would have been vegans or they would be much more indifferent to violence if every pack of meat had a QR code to a video showing the life and processing of that particular animal. I think more people would be pushing for animal welfare and proper slaughtering/raising conditions if this was done, even if they still ate meat.
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- mbb70 3y agoOne I recently heard was "conducting a rif" == "conducting a reduction in force" == "firing people". Soft language is alway to the benefit of the speaker, to assuage guilt or obfuscate intent. It's always to the detriment of the listener.
- ur-whale 3y ago> It's always to the detriment of the listener. Not always. If the listener has a functioning brain, he can quickly infer the kind of weasel the speaker is simply for stooping down to using that type of language.
- hinkley 3y agoAnchoring is still a thing isn’t it?
- rhuru 3y agoReduction is a negative word. Could trigger the snowflakes at your office. I think the correct term is "reassessment of human resources" or "restructuring", it is a bit like guy who steals your car at gunpoint in SF but is kind enough to ask you your preferred pronoun.
- jpcfl 3y ago> steals I believe the correct term for this is "reallocation."
- mikrotikker 3y agoOr "reparations"
- rhuru 3y agoYou have clearly mastered the art.
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- nickdothutton 3y agoI developed a love of history in later life, not at school, and quite independently a detestation of these watered-down modern phrases. Consequently I occasionally drag up a Monty Burnseque term. If you are not aware of it already, I highly recommend “Politics and the English Language” by Orwell. It’s an easy read.
- teddyh 3y agoAlso known as the “euphemism treadmill”: <https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Euphemism&oldid=1178713840#Lifespan https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Euphemism&oldid=1...>
- eesmith 3y agoI don't think Carlin's observation holds much support. Take the classic "shell shock" bit. Carlin defines it at "a condition in combat that occurs when a soldier is completely stressed out and is on the verge of a nervous collapse." However, that is not the WWI definition. Quoting https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.ajp.2007.07071180 https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.ajp.2... : "The term “shell shock” evolved in an attempt to describe cases that arose in the context of exploding ordnance but where enduring symptoms could not be linked to the presence of an obvious organic lesion." The problem was, from the same link, "many shell-shocked soldiers had been nowhere near an explosion but had identical symptoms to those who had. ... when it had become clear that many cases of shell shock were not directly related to a head injury, military medical authorities attempted to restrict use of the diagnosis. Servicemen invalided from the front were given a preliminary label of “not yet diagnosed, nervous,” and those who failed to recover but had no visible cerebral injury were then classified as “neurasthenic.” Disputes over the etiology and management of shell shock served to inhibit further the design of an effective protocol." This should be very familiar to those who remember the PTSD debate in the post-Vietnam era. So when Carlin say "I’ll bet if they had still been calling it 'shell shock,' some of those Vietnam veterans might have received the attention they needed.", I don't really think that's true. We can even read of some of the attention received by WWI victims of shell shock, at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_shock https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_shock : "Some men with shell shock were put on trial, and even executed, for military crimes including desertion and cowardice.[16] While it was recognised that the stresses of war could cause men to break down, a lasting episode was likely to be seen as symptomatic of an underlying lack of character ... The continued pressure to avoid medical recognition of shell shock meant that it was not, in itself, considered an admissible defence. Although some doctors or medics did take procedure to try to cure soldiers' shell shock, it was first done in a brutal way. ... a patient who had, over the course of 9 months, been subjected unsuccessfully to numerous treatments for his mutism; these included strong application of electricity to his throat, lit cigarette ends applied to the tip of his tongue, and "hot plates" placed in the back of his mouth" PTSD is a larger category which would include shell shock, but also includes (as the VA point out at https://www.research.va.gov/topics/ptsd.cfm https://www.research.va.gov/topics/ptsd.cfm) military sexual trauma, which wouldn't be classified as "shell shock" but has similar symptoms and treatments.
- itronitron 3y agoOn my daily commute in the DC Metro area (pre 9/11) I would occasionally listen to an Arabic or otherwise ME radio station. On one trip home there was a call-in talk show on the station, and that particular day was memorable because while the host and caller were both speaking Arabic (I assume), the caller would occasionally pause and switch to English when they felt they needed to express their viewpoint using exceptionally vague and ambiguous, non-committal language. It sounded exactly like White House messaging.
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- imchillyb 3y agoGeorge Carlin’s: “American Dream” is still relevant today, and probably will be relevant for centuries to come. “…you have to be asleep to believe it…”
- motohagiography 3y agoControl the language and you control everything made from it. I can be civil and choose words, but it's why I won't have my language policed either. A lot of euphemisms aren't meaningful about the subject, but more about demonstrating alignment to others who are operating on the subject. It's the banality of people who think in clichés.
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- swayvil 3y agoIf your reality is largely compromised of language, soft language is the natural evolution of language. Of course we who live wrapped in language are going to modify our terms for comfort. When you're wrapped like this, comfort trumps accuracy. We might ask, "what's up with this apparent language-wrapped majority?"
- dmd 3y ago> Sneakers became running shoes I'm not sure I buy this one.
- JKCalhoun 3y agoI thought they were deck shoes once.
- donatj 3y agoI saw a conversation on Twitter a while ago back when it still was Twitter. The OP with many followers was laying out words and classes of words with negative connotations that shouldn't be used. Someone replied in good faith to OP and asked how we should express negative thoughts. OPs answer was basically that we shouldn't. I find that kind of thought very off putting and minorly disturbing. An important part of the human experience is being able to express when someone else has screwed you over; to do so using flowery over the top hyperbole is the catharsis we need to live good lives.
- dijit 3y agoSuch language policing is double-plus-ungood. (For those that haven’t read the classic Nineteen-eighty-four book by Eric Arthur Blair (pen name: George Orwell) one of the core themes of the story is how the ruling party controlled language, calling it “newspeak”, in order to remove the ability to express certain thoughts or opinions, most notably those that could be used to incite revolution or allow you to express discontent.)
- swayvil 3y agoWe have a local mind-control cult where I live. When asked they'll retort "why yes, we are a mind control cult. We teach you how to control your mind." ...but that isn't what I meant. Controlling the language. It's a big thing.
- JohnFen 3y ago> Controlling the language. It's a big thing. And that's underselling how big it is. Language is the API to our brains. That's at least half the point Orwell's 1984 makes.
- pstuart 3y agoChomsky has entered the chat: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing_Consent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing_Consent
- _oskh 3y agoIt's like a breath of fresh air to hear someone make straightforward statements without fear.
- alexpotato 3y agoWasn't a lot of this "soft language" the result of active and conscious work by people like Frank Luntz [0] e.g. - "energy exploration" to refer to oil drilling - "climate change" instead of global warming My understanding is that he used focus groups watching video of politicians. As the politician would speak, the watchers would use dials to live rate how they felt about the words being used. In essence, he would A/B test how "soft" the language was and then pass that information on to political groups to help shape narratives etc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Luntz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Luntz
- abdullahkhalids 3y agoThe wiki page on climate change [1] explains that climate change was already a growing to be preferred term earlier than Frank Luntz memo. Which I think is correct because it is much more accurate. There is a lot more to climate change than global warming. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change#Terminology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change#Terminology
- seabass-labrax 3y ago"Rapid climate change" is what I would say is the most specific term, because climates change naturally over time, but usually do so slowly enough that there is no risk to individuals. The kind of climate change due to human interactions is so rapid that individuals are at risk, for instance those who live in low-lying coastal areas. Species evolve when there is slow climate change, but rapid changes make whole clades of species extinct before they have enough generations to evolve.
- abdullahkhalids 3y agoWell, the term used for 'climate change due to human interactions' is anthropogenic climate change. Which plays exactly into George Carlin said. Why use 'anthropogenic climate change' which a regular person won't know the meaning of instead of 'human-caused climate change' or something.
- FpUser 3y agoGeorge Carlin is my ever favorite. He is the best
- streakfix 3y agoA lot of the points he made are wrong. Shell shock is physical damage to the grey matter of the brain, caused by an explosion. PTSD is mostly psychological and can be caused by shell shock.
- phaedrus441 3y agoI think you are mistaken: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_shock https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_shock "Shell shock is a word that originated during World War I to describe the type of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that many soldiers experienced during the war, before PTSD was officially recognized."
- kerbs 3y agoA cursory Google search on Shell Shock doesn’t resonate with this statement.
- gniv 3y agoIn French class I learned about a notorious euphemism that the French govt once used: «référentiel bondissant» for ball (in sports). The expression literally means "bouncy frame of reference".
- tptacek 3y agoJust for fun, from the first example: * Toilet paper -> bathroom tissue --- sure, a softening of the language. * Sneakers -> running shoes --- not a softening; sneakers aren't the same as running shoes, and "sneaker" was a regionalism (it's "gym shoe" where I grew up). * False teeth -> dental appliance --- a softening, though a welcome one in this case. * Medicine -> medication --- a softening (a nominalization of a denominalization, at that!). Down with medication! * Information -> directory assistance --- arguably, this is a hardening, since directory assistance carries more meaning and carries it more precisely. * The dump -> landfill --- a dump is not a landfill. The word changed because we stopped building open-air unchecked dumps and started building regulated landfills with groundwater protection and load checking. * Car crash -> automobile accident --- a softening, though he's getting some mileage out of switching "car" to "automobile" (I can hear his voice very clearly in my head dancing over the syllables in "auto-mo-beeel") and the real language is "car accident". * Partly cloudy -> partly sunny --- I think he made this up. * Motels -> motor lodges --- This is a softening, but it didn't take; look up "Econo Lodge", and it's a motel, not a motor lodge (Choice Hotels will call it a "hotel" though). * House trailer -> mobile home --- A softening; by the end of his life, he'd have been able to use "manufactured home" here instead to drive the point further home. * Used car -> previously owned transportation --- A softening, a good example of one, but again notice that he's smuggled the word "transportation" in to make it more zippy. "Certified pre-owned" is a much funnier term (imagine the shape his eyeballs would take while noting the "certified" here). I miss Carlin! * Room service -> guest room dining --- A softening, and also: why? * Constipation -> occasional irregularity --- A softening, if you will, and again he's made it artificially softer with the "occasional".
- JoshGG 3y agoThanks this is pretty interesting! Re: “car crash”, crash is the correct “real language”. The use of “accident” implies a lack of responsibility and that car crashes cannot be prevented or reduced. That isn’t true. Many studies show that crashes can be reduced via better engineering, road design, etc. Calling it an accident definitely seems like softening the language. https://dmv.vermont.gov/enforcement-and-safety/laws/crashes/crash-not-accident https://dmv.vermont.gov/enforcement-and-safety/laws/crashes/...
- jancsika 3y agoActivist became Social Justice Warrior. (Finally seems to be going away, though.) Nosy neighbor became A Karen. Being a trans ally/educator became groomer in some conservative circles. Liberal became libtard. In the past weeks, most modifiers used to discuss Israel/Palestine have intensified, not softened. (Wasn't there some Israeli official who used the term "subhuman" on Twitter?) Mask became chin diaper! Military/militia wannabes became Meal Team Six / Gravy Seal Interpersonal conflicts, political debates, and misunderstandings have become accusations of gaslighting-- i.e., two people accusing each other of attempting to brainwash the other I'd even argue that useful idiot becoming NPC is a change to something more extreme. (The idiot is implied to be unwitting/naive while the NPC is implied to lack agency.) And finally, stochastic terrorism. There's no precedent for this term AFAICT. And thanks to the vague definition and pretentious borrowing of a term from statistics it is virtually guaranteed to be overused and misunderstood in political discussions, fueling disrespect, anger, outrage, and preventing sober, productive reflection. There must be thousands of these, fueled mostly by social media. As for soft language-- since anxiety/depression levels have gone through the roof over the past two decades, there's been a trend of soft language becoming reified and relegated to ASMR videos. As a strong and vocal supported of narrowing the dynamic range of mainstream audio, I whole-heartedly support and endorse this trend.
- pauldenton 3y agoDon't forget being a Trump supporter became "domestic terrorist" since January 6. https://www.fox5dc.com/news/pro-palestinian-protest-underway-at-capitol-rotunda-uscp-detains-some-demonstrators-israel-hamas-war-capitol-hill-jewish-voices-for-peace https://www.fox5dc.com/news/pro-palestinian-protest-underway... Funny none of the people storming the capitol or disrupting government since this Israel war started have been arrested as anti-Semites or Anti-muslim terrorists. I guess it's not treason to want to expel Jews or Muslims from the river to the sea.
- xyzelement 3y agoOne of the many places I see soft language hurt is in feedback. “Our project is late” and “xyzelement failed to prioritize well” might refer to the same event but one is more likely to “sting” me in a way that causes change. In my value system change and improvement are worth the sting in the short term, but often that is prevented by soft language. Eg I’ve seen developers/ managers / teams come out on the other side of a “blameless” postmortem without realizing they fucked something up.
- lastofus 3y agoThere's some arguments behind why you might want to not lay blame plainly (and especially publicly) on an individual, within a business team setting. - Laying direct blame on someone may lead them to trying to hide problems to avoid the pain/shame in the future. - Related - everyone makes honest mistakes. Creating and environment where people feel ok admitting to these is a lot more ideal than the alternative. - Teams should be encouraged to take collective ownership, such that if someone who works with xyzelement sees them failing to prioritize, they need to do something about it, even if it's just raising a concern early in the project with those who need to hear said concern. That all said, sometimes people do need direct feedback (in private), especially when they are struggling in general with their job.
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- klyrs 3y ago> I'll bet if they had still been calling it 'shell shock,' some of those Vietnam veterans might have received the attention they needed. History lesson: no, WWI veterans didn't get the attention they needed. This is wistful conservatism wrapped in a shroud of comedy. Don't mistake it for truth or wisdom. The treatment of Vietnam veterans was not a departure from the standard practice of wars predating it. The depth of their trauma was a departure, and that was the eye-opener that primed us to take PTSD seriously in the aftermath of the wars of the 21st century. Now, PTSD (a four-syllable, jargon-free, hyphen-free term, if we're counting) has received greater attention than it did in the previous century of wars. It's recognized to effect more than just soldiers (which "shell shock" doesn't really cover), and progress is being made on a variety of treatments. George Carlin is funny, but that doesn't make him right.
- msla 3y agoFor example, in reference to the WWI experience in specific: > Some men with shell shock were put on trial, and even executed, for military crimes including desertion and cowardice.[16] While it was recognised that the stresses of war could cause men to break down, a lasting episode was likely to be seen as symptomatic of an underlying lack of character.[17] For instance, in his testimony to the post-war Royal Commission examining shell shock, Lord Gort said that shell shock was a weakness and was not found in "good" units.[17] The continued pressure to avoid medical recognition of shell shock meant that it was not, in itself, considered an admissible defence. Although some doctors or medics did take procedure to try to cure soldiers' shell shock, it was first done in a brutal way. Doctors would provide electric shock to soldiers in hopes that it would shock them back to their normal, heroic, pre-war self. While illustrating cases of mutism in his book Hysterical Disorders of Warfare, therapist Lewis Yealland describes a patient who had, over the course of 9 months, been subjected unsuccessfully to numerous treatments for his mutism; these included strong application of electricity to his throat, lit cigarette ends applied to the tip of his tongue, and "hot plates" placed in the back of his mouth.[18] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_shock https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_shock
- Aloha 3y agoMy belief that part of the depth of Trauma compared to WWII and Korea was the rotation system as used, vs demob as a unit. To expand on this, in Vietnam, individual soldiers were rotated in and out based on time in country, in WWII, units rotated as a unit, with replacements added during the rotation. The fact that it took weeks or months to repatriate people back to CONUS after WWII, gave time for people to process their experiences with their brother in arms.
- hinkley 3y agoI can’t hear the term “ethnic cleansing” now without hearing Carlin’s voice in my head. “Quantitative easing” is getting there. Which I figure is something he would be proud of. He will be sorely missed in the coming decades. Not by people who knew his work, but by the empty space he leaves.
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- njharman 3y agoRelated, in language being taken over and replaced. Having not paid attention to sports for 30years, but recently going to hocky matches. I have the perspective of avoiding the gradual "frog in boiling water effect". It was really in my face and shocking. My first thought was man, this is close to Idiocracy level. Every prominent surface is plastered with advertising, even the zamboni. Everything is sponsored, "Holloway motors Power Play!", "TEP half time puck toss".
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- dizzydes 3y agoI think in the long run it makes little difference because people become sensitized/de-sensitized to the new water level
- LAC-Tech 3y agoHere's one from software, it's not "shit", it's "legacy" :) TBH what I notice more of these days is geopolitical terms that mean the exact same thing, but one has a negative and one has a positive connotation: Regime VS Government Separatist VS Independent Irredentist VS Unifying Coup VS Ousting Terrorist VS Armed Wing Political VS Democratic Rioter VS Protester
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- deanCommie 3y agoIn an abstract sense, I'm not a fan of people rolling out quotes from nuanced creative societal thinkers like George Carlin to use in a modern context. The reason is because people use it for whatever agenda fits. It's a Rorschach. Cons see these quotes and think it's applicable to "PC culture" and think George Carlin would tell kids to toughen up. Libs see these quotes and think it's applicable to "truthiness" and the post-truth world the alt-right spins. Truth is, George Carlin died in 2008. He missed the entire Obama years and the Trump era. We have no idea what he would've said or thought about the evolution of culture, of cancel culture, of Trump, of trans rights, on Ukraine. Learn from the man what you want, but don't try to find quotes from 2001 and go "Hey wow look, it almost looks like he's talking about <blank>" here.
- jonathanlb 3y agoI'd argue that the very reason Carlin's observations are so widely cited is that they tap into enduring aspects of human behavior and societal norms, which makes them applicable across time and political spectrums. The fact that people from various political backgrounds find resonance in Carlin's words isn't a point against their current applicability. Rather, it underscores the universality of the issues he tackled- whether "PC culture" or "post-truth" narratives, we're still talking about the manipulation and policing of language and thought. Moreover, the idea that we can't know what Carlin would have said about today's issues is beside the point. The value in revisiting his observations isn't in speculating about what Carlin would have said about XYZ today, but in applying his insights as a lens through which to examine our own time.
- arichard123 3y agoI'm in the UK and have recently started hearing the euphemism "passed" instead of "died". I find it confusing, at least for a moment, as I track back in the conversation to identify a thing the person could have passed by. Then I realise, and start pondering how there is an implication added by the euphemism , that there is an afterlife someone has passed into.
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- lumb63 3y agoRe-reading Orwell's "Politics and the English Language" [1] a few months ago showed me how often I speak imprecisely or use too many words. Often I use more words than are necessary, only to say nothing. The purpose of words is to express ideas, but I often catch myself using words to obscure my thoughts and intentions rather than to share them. Worse than too many words are imprecise words. Words like "stuff", "things", "generally", and many others, simplify ideas to vague caricatures of themselves. Worse still, is that imprecision corrupts thinking. If someone cannot precisely express their ideas, perhaps they have none to express. For instance, I have heard statements like "things aren't the same as they used to be". If I ask what isn't the same as it used to be, I receive vague responses that repeat what was previously said, rather than give clarity. Now, when I catch myself using similar phrases, I pause and ask myself, "what am I really trying to say?" Sometimes I find myself not actually intending to say anything - just something. This practice challenges me to think, rather than to parrot mindless responses that tell others nothing about what I am thinking at all. [1]: https://guidetogrammar.org/grammar/composition/orwell.htm https://guidetogrammar.org/grammar/composition/orwell.htm
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- rglover 3y agoJust went on a rant about "impostor syndrome" the other day and how it's just cope-language for people who know deep down that they don't actually provide any value (and aren't terribly interested in learning how to do that). Another one is "adulting" which is literally just taking responsibility for one's own life/actions post-adolescence.
- jzb 3y agoI've always heard (and used) "adulting" as "doing the boring, unrewarding, never-ending tasks that come with adulthood." Yes, we have a responsibility to do those things. But there's no harm IMO in acknowledging that they feel like drudgery and bullshit a lot of the time.
- nightfly 3y agoI think this is the first comment on here I've wanted to just say "fuck you" to. There are lots of reasons for people to feel insecure, and this type of attitude doesn't help
- rglover 3y agoYou've proven Carlin's point.
- nightfly 3y agoNo. How do you think your students would feel if they knew this is how you think of them? I know lots of insecure people, some who are new but still learning, some very skilled in some areas with holes in others but their skills areas way more then make up for their deficiencies, some who just have anxiety issues who don't have any skill issues at all. And a few who really might be in over their heads. The last category is the smallest.
- rglover 3y agoI'm very direct and honest with them about things just like this. I don't hold punches. I teach them to work the problem [1] instead of whining or wasting time on spinning their mental tires. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0h2Wk6-C_I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0h2Wk6-C_I
- csours 3y ago> Partly cloudy became partly sunny. Here it Texas, it's still Partly Cloudy, probably because we get more than enough sun.
- Vaslo 3y agoI used to wonder about this too but there is a semi-scientific difference between the two. There are more clouds with partly cloudy than with partly sunny.
- AlbertCory 3y agoI got to say the actual words "You're fired!" to my estate lawyer. Details too involved to provide here. So fun.
- bl_valance 3y agoMany people here missing Carlin's point about "soft language". Think more on the examples of forcing oneself, either by choice or by social factors. suicide -> "unalive" homeless -> "unhoused" I absolutely hate these terms.