“You Keep Using That Word”!
It has the odor of propaganda. But believe it anyway.
“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
Yes…where is Inigo Montoya when he’s needed?
If you gave up “Watching Entertaining Movies” for Lent (post 1987) - and never re-lented - you missed “The Princess Bride”, a cute, funny, love adventure story, loaded with timeless quotable quotes. (Watch the movie to fully appreciate the rest of the article)
Inigo Montoya’s memorable line has proven inspirational. With a new year starting in a matter of days, there is no better time to review words and meanings, deleting the worthless ones from our constantly burgeoning vocabulary. Call it Verbal Downsizing.
#1: “Study”
Not in the parental ‘Homework Nagging’ category but in the Government-Media- Industrial (Pharmaceutical) division, e.g. a “study”, an academic review by certified experts focused on a compelling subject; generally, a “study” related to some aspect of human or societal welfare; medical “studies” the most prevalent.
Recall the plethora of COVID related “studies”. Specifically, those that contradicted the Government-Big Pharma narrative. Doctors with prestigious histories, established research organizations, real-time statistics, even personal experiences were censored, de-platformed, mocked, fired, sued, or abused for truthfully revealing the Government-MSM-Pharma Axis of promoting Fake News. All these studies were summarily trashed by Fauci, CDC & Co. Their “studies”, while accepted and broadcast without question, are currently being proven through Alt Media to be fudged, bastardized lies writ large that no one was permitted to challenge.
When the MSM presents a “study” endorsing the status quo or the popular government endorsed narrative, understand that the author is using a word that doesn’t mean what he thinks it means. It has the odor of propaganda. But you are expected to believe it anyway.
#2 Investigation
Similar to “Study”, the Elite, the Brainiacs, our Government Rulers and the self-assumed brilliance of the Blow-Dried Talking Heads on TV want to impress you with the fiction that ‘something is being done: an “Investigation” is allegedly taking place to get to the bottom whatever scandal du jour is the Lead Story.
Rumor has it “Investigation” comes from an ancient urban Pre-Cambrian slang dialect meaning “Here’s some bullshit that will buy us time to come up with something you might believe.” Etymologists agree it is one of the few English words whose meaning has remained true to its roots. Semantically anyway.
Remember East Palestine, OH? Maui, HI? Their causes and history are still being ‘investigated’; some were cancelled once government money began arriving. Cause? Unknown but “investigated”.
How about the slaughter at the Covenant School in Nashville? Eight months ago as of this writing, “officials” refused to release the shooter’s “manifesto’; “too disturbing” for the survivors and the public to handle. It was famously leaked. There was no massive social breakdown as predicted. Nevertheless, last month (Nov 7th), the mayor ordered the police to (wait for it!)….investigate how it happened. No doubt a heavily redacted result will be forthcoming.
How about FBI Director Chris Wray? In his next performance before some Congressional oversight committee, count the times he answers with “We do not comment on on-going investigations.”
UFO sightings? Current status: “… the Navy confirmed video of unidentified objects “buzzing” U.S. warships near California. The incident would be added to the list of sightings under investigation.” Our taxpayer dollars have been paying for this since 1947. To continue, they need ‘additional funding’. Of course.
To prove its worthlessness, choose your favorite ‘investigation’: J6 ‘insurrection”. Hillary Clinton election fraud, Vince Foster ‘suicide’, Seth Rich “suicide”, Jeff Epstein’s “suicide”, JFK, RFK, MLK assassinations – while all were “investigated”, conclusions were so fantastic, anyone questioning them was promptly labeled ‘conspiracy theory nutcase’ and treated accordingly by elected officials, bureaucratic sycophants, MSM and other guilty parties.
Believing a government ‘investigation’ to be true to the definition of the word is a long drive in a cul-du-sac. When the Accused “investigates” itself, it’s obvious they “do not think it means what you think it means.”
#3 Controversial
Thanks to the smokescreen called “news” or “reporting”, “Controversial” has wandered down the same semantic path of devolution. Once a term that would alert the reader or listener to something important, scandalous, outrageous, is now deployed to denote anything the MSM does not want to report, concerned it will blow away the camo hiding the truth along with its well-established liberal bias. Sure, there is the occasionally truly controversial story. But when actual facts are added, it tends to morph from ‘controversial’ to plain old ‘sensational’. Like “click-bait”, employed to lure one into the reporting trap that lectures you according to preconceived conclusions, regardless of missing sustainable facts. They would be just too ‘controversial’ for the ‘average American’, too ignorant or sensitive to consume.
Once might say it’s too controversial to suggest ‘controversial’ is a word that doesn’t mean what you think it means.
Rid your personal lexicon of these useless words, now guilty of merely loitering in your vocabulary. When you hear one, remember why it’s being used. As language continues to be corroded, by this time next year we will likely be eliminating “explosive” and “unacceptable”. Without strenuous objection, we will eventually get to “freedom”, “liberty”, “inalienable rights” and “America”.
Thanks for reading this far!
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