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Doublespeak

 

            
             In Lutz's eyes, doublespeak "is the language that pretends to communicate but really doesn't. It is the language that makes the bad seem good, the negative appear positive, the unpleasant appear attractive or at least tolerable". Many types of doublespeak are employed in our language to mislead the speaker's audience in a direction that the truth can come out to hold a different meaning. Lutz illustrates the styles of doublespeak into four categories. In shaping these categories, lies the people who hold the responsibility for the proliferation of doublespeak. .
             The first of such doublespeak involve the use of euphemisms. A euphemism is a means of using a mild or positive phrase to soften a given statement as coming off as harsh, unpleasant, or distasteful reality. In Lutz's example of sending condolences to someone who is grieving by saying he/she has "passed away" instead of bluntly telling them he/she "had died", is a way of demonstrating a euphemism to indicate your sensitivity to the feelings of that grieving person. But it is when a euphemism is used to mislead or swindle, that it becomes a doublespeak. The U.S. State Department is one of such who has used a euphemism as a doublespeak. Their announcement of replacing the word "killing" by the phrase "unlawful or arbitrary deprivation of life" can be more tolerable to the public, which may have them believe that it's not as bad when essentially it means the same as killing. This results in an act of misleading, which converts this euphemism into a doublespeak as well. Lutz's statements on euphemisms is directed toward the government as being the creators and users of such doublespeak.
             Jargon is a doublespeak that is used by those who use a specialized language to communicate with each other effectively. Some of those who use jargon in their language include doctors, lawyers, engineers, educators, or car mechanics. I think lawyers can be most related to using jargon as a doublespeak.


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