Thoughts about words

An activist is any person with a platform who makes it a habit to be offended and then to seek revenge on behalf of another person. This has more impact on society than those who act offended on behalf of another just to do some virtue signaling. In the latter case, it’s a matter of showing off for friends and family. In the former, it’s trying to use one's influence or celebrity to get the offender fired, chastised or cancelled in some other way. 

An example comes from the TV show America’s Got Talent. Gabriel Union, a judge at the time, along with the host “were upset with how...offensive issues were not addressed, including reports of an offensive joke made when [Jay] Leno made a guest appearance on the show.” One of his jokes referred to serving dog meat at a Korean restaurant. “She demanded that Leno be reported and wanted to increase the ratio of Asian staffers working there."

Having never seen her (or heard of her), I wondered what part of Korea she came from that she was so offended. Wikipedia lists her as American, born in Omaha. But it also lists her as an activist, which explains the outrage. You can’t maintain activist credentials unless you are prepared to seek out and try to remedy every possible case of apparent injustice. What used to be considered humor, perhaps in bad taste, is now cause for condemnation and reparations. Any ill-advised wise crack can brand you as a racist – apology expected, but it won’t do you any good, as a vocal minority demand that you be fired anyway.

Notice how these activists are all so well off that they have the luxury of indulging in this hobby – a kind of self-righteous bullying.

On another subject, notice how in the first paragraph I used “impact” as a noun. Notice also in day-to-day life how often people use impact as a verb. In the weather report the cold front will impact the temperatures or the snow will impact driving conditions. In sports the number of players on injured reserve impacted the performance of the team. In health news: “CMV impacts Newborns.” In an insurance notice: “This change does not impact any benefits.”

I have a theory of why every situation seems to be impacted (as if they were all wisdom teeth). The confusion in usage between the words effect and affect is often listed among the most common errors in English. So people have found an easy solution to the problem by avoiding them not only in writing, but also speaking. The snow may affect something – or will it effect something? – Who cares, just say impact. It sounds more forceful anyway.

Finally, what is an artist? An artist is anyone who calls himself an artist. Duct tape a banana to a wall and you are an artist. Take the banana down and eat it and you are also an artist. When something is so subjective as art, visual or performance, does the word really have any meaning anymore?

Perhaps it means that any time we make a mistake or violate a norm, we can claim as a defense that we are artists practicing our art. Tell your questionable joke and when people object, just say it was art. You were only trying, through irony, to elicit a teachable moment and to positively impact society. 

Words Matter

I don’t watch many ads on TV, but I happened to see this one near the end of a football game last week. It was one of those public relations ads from Exxon Mobile telling what a wonderful job they were doing developing biofuel from algae. Someday this fuel will be used to power planes, ships and trucks “and cut their emissions in half.”

Wait a minute; something is not right here! Biofuels are carbon-based. When they burn, they emit mostly carbon dioxide. The only way to cut emissions in half is for the same amount of fuel to produce twice the energy as traditional diesel or jet fuel. That involves a factor called energy density.

Now biofuel is generally good. It comes from plants that extract CO₂ from the atmosphere. When biofuel burns it releases the same CO₂ back into the atmosphere, so it is considered to be carbon neutral. 

The downside is that first generation biofuels, such as ethanol, are produced from edible crops. They require a lot of space to grow and a lot of energy to plant, harvest and transport.

Biofuels processed from algae are a second-generation biofuel, similar to fuel made from the inedible and discarded part of a food crop, such as cornhusks or switch grass. The advantage is that food and fuel do not compete with each other, as when ethanol is made from corn.  And the production consumes “small amounts of energy while producing considerable fuel output.”

Other advantages are that algae production is efficient, in that, it can be grown “in almost any climate thanks to the open- or closed-tank approaches that are available today. As long as we can provide this natural product with enough sunlight to create photosynthesis, then it has the capability to grow quickly.” It is a renewable energy source that can be refined into a variety of products, and it can yield almost five times more fuel per acre than sugar cane or corn.

Two major disadvantages according to the same source are that it currently requires about 20% more energy to grow than it yields and production cost is still higher than the alternatives.

Exxon Mobile confronts the skeptics by citing partnerships with several major universities and a private firm to use gene technology and other research to build on the advantages and overcome many of the disadvantages. It looks promising, but they still “face some significant technical hurdles before biofuels production from algae will be possible at a significant commercial scale.”

The question remains about the claim of half the emissions. All fuel from wood and manure to jet fuel has a characteristic called energy density. “Energy density is the amount of energy stored in a given system or region of space per unit volume or mass.”  Gasoline has an energy density of about 45 megajoules per kilogram (MJ/kg). “Ethanol produces 30 megajoules/kilogram.” For that reason, a car will go farther on a gallon of pure gasoline than it will on a gallon of ethanol or any mix of ethanol and gasoline. Adding ethanol at the pump reduces MPG.

This 2011 paper from Stanford gives the energy density of algae-based biofuel at 20-25 MJ/kg, about half that of gasoline. Even if the research at Exxon Mobile’s partners could double it to equal that of gasoline or diesel, it would still be far short of their claim of cutting the emission of planes, ships and trucks in half. 

Deeper reading at the Exxon Mobile site gives the answer: “If key research hurdles are overcome, algal biofuels will have about 50 percent lower life cycle greenhouse gas emissions than petroleum-derived fuel.” The saving is not in emissions but in the energy expended during the entire production and delivery process.

The claim in the ad is inconsistent with that explanation thus is really inaccurate. Perhaps the advertising firm misunderstood, or the company just dumbed it down for football fans. In either case, I love it when I’m right!

Paying Attention

It’s hard to use critical thinking unless you are paying close attention. Opinions and feelings try to slide by as facts; some things are brought to our attention and some glossed over or omitted. Questions go unanswered.

Here are a few changes and trends I noticed by paying attention and applying some perspective to note differences. Not all are necessarily bad or problematic, but as we let unimportant things slip by, we also allow the big issues to ride along.

Gradually the vocabulary for describing schools is changing. High schools now have campuses. In news reports the term is commonly used, even in cases where it’s a single building with an athletic field in back – these were formerly referred to simply as high schools. After spending four years being taught by educators, students may earn a high school degree. 

One news item recently reported that Chik-fil-A had moved into third place among quick-service restaurants, as another told us, “Chick-fil-A will become the first quick service restaurant to offer full meal kits.” Eating fast food is a bad habit; does calling it quick service instead of fast food make a difference in the nutritional value or is it just more marketing?

I’ve written before about how realtors have hijacked the word homes. They don’t sell houses anymore; they sell homes. It has gotten to the point where an architectural design formerly known as a townhouse, usually having a small footprint with multiple floors, is today referred to as a townhome. Google the term townhouse and you will see many ads for restaurants and bars. Google townhome and you will see real estate ads – more marketing.

 Health food stores got it right from the beginning.  They don’t really sell food, and much of it isn’t particularly healthful. In fact, it is unregulated and untested so some products can be dangerous without customers knowing. But they got the marketing angle down to the point where so many people put their critical thinking in neutral and believe otherwise.

Finally, the word alleged has somehow changed its nature or definition, or has just become a term thrown around to protect against any misrepresentation. So many times I have heard local news reporters saying something along these lines: “The man was allegedly charged with robbing a Village Pantry.” (Robbing Village Pantries in the wee hours is kind of a hobby for folks around here.) But he wasn’t allegedly charged; he was actually charged for allegedly doing the robbing.

Paying attention and using critical thinking is important. Words can be misused unintentionally, which is usually harmless. But they can also be used by advertisers, politicians and others to manipulate opinions. For example, referring to people who sneak into the country as immigrants is like referring to shoplifters as customers.

More on Words

A few times in the past I've commented on the words people use to sell us things or to sound more impressive.

Just a few weeks ago in Tell It Like It Is, I mentioned a few business terms, like associates and team members instead of employees.  They say guests instead of customers.  Actions often don't live out the promise of the new terminology.

Back in January 2014 in Words, Words, Words, I explained the distinction between:  eager and anxious, less and fewer.  I complained about the loose usage of literally and how awesome has become the adjective for everyone who doesn't want to spend any time or effort to describe an experience accurately. The message was that thoughtful people choose the right word.

Likewise, way back in October 2011 in Words People Use, I warned about the use of words to make us think in a particular way, sort of propaganda-lite, used in advertising.  One example was how the word "home" has replaced the word "house" allowing realtors to sell something warm and inviting instead of just a structure to store your furniture and spend the evening in.  It has caught on to the point where even abandoned buildings (of the right size and location) are referred to as homes.

By now it should be clear that I think words are important to communications and that I am sensitive to the words chosen by politicians, the media and advertisers.  Imagine my surprise when I heard on a newscast the comment of the local sheriff when he learned about a new state law requiring more criminals to be housed in county facilities rather than in state prisons: "We don't have enough staff to increase the number of clients at the jail."  Clients?!  At least they're not calling them guests - yet.

Tell It Like It Is

I don’t recall when they started using grander-sounding words and titles to try to build up a reputation, sell a product or otherwise change perceptions.  The first one that comes to my mind is when they started referring to the Personnel Department as Human Resources.  The sound of resources was friendlier, more human and less administrative than personnel, which may have sounded more like a processing function or an adoption from the military.  Over the years everyone adapted.  Many today may not have heard it referred to in any other way than Human Resources, but now it is still perceived as doing about the same functions.  Those who benefited the most were probably the printers of business cards.

Another business-related change was the move from employees to associates or team members.  In many cases this was a phony attempt to make the employees believe they were considered more important.  Our people are our greatest asset – until the budget doesn’t balance and then the associates suddenly become “headcount,” and are treated as a liability to be cut.  Actions speak louder than artificial titles.  (During my career I was an associate at one company and an employee at another, and the treatment at the second was much better than at the first.)  Remember, members of totalitarian societies would call their neighbors comrade just before they turned them in to the secret police.

Don’t forget the conversion of customers to guests.  They have guest services instead of customer services, but is the waiting time any shorter as you wade through the computerized telephone system and sit on hold trying to talk to a live human being while listening to a message about how important your call is?

One that caught my eye recently is the morphing of teachers and students into educators and learners.  Does it make a difference to the behavior of the ordinary citizen that Smokey Bear tells them to prevent wildfires instead of forest fires?  Yesterday people took a drink of water; today they hydrate.  In these cases, the behavior is much more important than the terminology.

Other noticeable examples include:  social justice – which sounds like a noble cause until you realize that both sides of an issue sometimes use it to defend their conclusions, because justice to one person is often different from justice to another in the same circumstances; health food – which is great marketing, using a name to imply the ability to grant people’s wishes for health, but the products are often untested against that promise; and “high school degree” – which is more impressive than an ordinary-sounding HS diploma.

There are many more examples.  Auto buffs will argue that a crossover vehicle is not exactly the same as a station wagon, but come on!  

In each case someone is trying to sell something.  Educators are trying to sell the image of enhanced status.   Human Resources is selling the idea of a less clerical or bureaucratic function.  Use of the term Associate tries to sell the idea of a more collaborative relationship.

Critical thinking is a must to defend against those who want to persuade us with fancy titles and terminology to buy something, to use a service or adopt a certain opinion.  It's important to be little skeptical of these changes in vocabulary, because using a fancier description is so much easier than actually delivering the quality we should expect.  Critical thinkers require them to mean what they say, to tell it like it is.

Words, Words, Words

I understand that English is not a dead language, that it is growing and evolving; but language is also meant to convey thoughts and ideas, which should entail some sense of precision.  If your language is sloppy, this will impede your ability to convey information accurately.  Sloppy language may reflect poorly on how you are perceived intellectually.  Choice of words is one area where this is apparent.

Why do people say anxious instead of eager?  Anxious implies, or should imply, a sense of anxiety – worry, nervousness, or unease.  Are the kids anxious to go to the swimming pool because they are afraid of drowning or bacteria?  They are probably eager to go to the pool to see their friends and get some relief from the heat, or they just love to swim.

Why do people say less instead of fewer?  Less is a quantity word, like much.  Fewer is a counting word like many.  How many (counting) cars are driving by? – Fewer (counting) than yesterday.  How much (quantity) gas is in the tank? – Less (quantity) than when we started driving.  “Fewer” means not as many; “less” means not as much.

On a related subject, to say the amount of people is incorrect.  People are countable.  The number (not the amount) of people voting or buying new cars is greater than last year.  Describing the amount of people would require a scale or tape measure.

Why do people describe so many people, things and experiences as awesome?  Awe is a reverential respect mixed with fear and wonder.  Few things are truly awesome.  When people say awesome, it comes from habit and lack of imagination, not as an attempt to express fear and wonder.  Awesome has gone from a description of profound feeling to a knee-jerk, silly, near-meaningless adjective.  So many other, more suitable words more precisely convey feelings of the team’s play, the paintings in a museum, the concert, etc.  Possibilities include:  wonderful, fabulous, sensational, terrific, great, colorful, enjoyable, unbelievable, magnificent, formidable, striking, glorious, or superb (but probably not amazing, another overused word).  Let’s save awesome for gods and tornados.  Of course, awesome and amazing are what cool and groovy were in the 60s so they will probably die out eventually.

What do you say instead of literally when you mean literally?  Recently, “the informal use of the word ‘literally’ – as a term for emphasis when a statement isn't true – has been included as a definition in the Oxford English Dictionary.”  Literally once meant that something really happened or existed, but people misused it so often to emphasize figurative comparisons that it now can mean either literally or figuratively, that is, metaphorically.  His head was literally so big that he could just barely get in the door –I don’t think so.  It’s literally the chance of a lifetime – perhaps, but probably not.  What do you say to make it clear that you are not exaggerating?  How do we distinguish between a big ego and some weird health condition that causes heads to expand?

Words have meanings.  Thoughtful people use the right word.

Say What You Mean

I’ve written before about how choice of words reveals the presenter’s position on a subject or reveals a prejudice.  It could be a marketing trick to increase the appeal of a product, service or political agenda.

Use of the word home has become a pet peeve of mine.  Realtors promoted this alternative to house because it sounds warmer and friendlier, and everyone seems to have adopted it to the point where we read of abandoned homes, foreclosed homes, efforts to redevelop vacant homes.  Can it really be a home if no one lives there?  Can’t a rental with a loving family be as much a home as any house?  Is it accurate to change townhouse, referring to an architectural style, to townhome in advertising material or news stories?

Similarly, when someone tries to sell you “window treatments” or “eyewear,” you are probably paying more than you would for identical curtains or glasses.  

Those who moved from Mexico to the US without permission are described in various ways.  Choices include:  illegal alien, illegal immigrant, undocumented worker, undocumented immigrant, unauthorized immigrant, (just plain) immigrant, or migrant (implying a move, but not a border crossing).  In some cases, the different terms reflect a progression of public opinion or a political bias.

My new e-mail gives a choice of line spacing.  What was once called narrow, regular or wide spacing has been changed to slim, regular or relaxed – like e-mail is the same as blue jeans!  Perhaps the subliminal message is that the obesity epidemic will be cured not by healthier habits but by adopting a new vocabulary.  Perhaps they can’t say what they mean for fear of offending someone. To me this seems crazy.

In an art supply catalog I saw an ad for paint to be used for “contemporary urban calligraphy.”  Is that a polite way of saying graffiti?

Professionals use words to enhance their own importance by diminishing ours.  Medical professionals call us patients.   Lawyers and consultants call us clients (and the client term seems to be spreading.)  If instead they used the word “customer,” it's possible that respect, consideration and the level of service might improve.

Profanity, like antibiotics, loses effectiveness by overuse.  Any shock or added impact is lost.  It's no longer saved for "special occasions" to add emphasis, but dropped into casual conversations, written communications - often by means of not-so-clever abbreviations, and tossed around everywhere except where the FCC specifically bans it.  (Some movies contain little more than 25 minutes of plot and dialog, the rest being profanity and special effects.)  It's cool not to be shocked, and soon no one is shocked.  So it has devolved into the equivalent of troglodytical grunts.

Critical thinking rebels at this imprecision and laxness.  There may be no cure for the rappers, reporters, politicians and advertisers, but it would be helpful if we didn't pick up their bad habits and just said what we mean.

Words People Use

Early in my career my job involved administering a union contract, one that had a protection clause that was somewhat controversial.  Management called it “comparison” and the union and workers called it “regression.”  You only had to listen to the choice of words to tell where the speaker stood on the issue.

Since then I have become sensitive to the way others use words to try to influence me as I try to make rational decisions politically and economically.  In politics it’s more transparent, for example, some talking about inheritance tax and others about death tax, but there are a few in advertising that seem subtler.

One that is especially widespread is the substitution of the word home for house.  In general usage, a house is a structure where people might live.  A home on the other hand connotes something more personal, defined in one source as “the place in which one's domestic affections are centered.”  Accordingly realtors don’t sell houses any more; they sell homes.  We are enticed to look for new homes at a parade of homes.  It was a very clever marketing strategy to get buyers to think of the touchy-feely aspects of the transaction and react emotionally to “the home of your dreams” or to fall in love with a home, but it seems to have caught on everywhere.  I rarely hear people referring to the places where they live as their house.  It’s their home, and they may have a second home or a vacation home somewhere.  They buy homeowner’s insurance in case it burns down.  I wouldn’t be surprised if soon they don’t have a dog home in the back yard with a bird home hanging from the tree!  Does “the American dream of owning a home” imply that an apartment or rental property cannot be made into a home with love and care?  The real estate industry probably hopes so.  This has become so widespread that I recently saw a religious wall hanging saying, “Bless this home”, rather than using the traditional wording of house.

Of course there are others trying to change our vocabulary to their advantage including:  car dealers selling pre-owned cars as if to imply that someone only owned it for a while, but didn’t really use it; executives calling us associates instead of employees, then going out of their way not to associate with most of us – too important/busy for that; or restaurants and hotels calling us guests instead of customers.  (Well, if I’m your guest, why are you making me pay?)  I received a survey from a restaurant asking me to compare them to other “rapid service” establishments.  Maybe the term they used was “swift service,” but it definitely wasn’t “fast food”!  Good luck with that one!

It’s all a ploy to get us to switch off our Critical Thinking mechanism long enough to slip one by us.  I’d rather see the actions/results that they are trying to portray with these words than the fancy marketing terminology.