506 Comments
User's avatar
⭠ Return to thread
lin•'s avatar

I understand, but I can't let Trump own the lexicon. We need to reclaim and redeem the words.

Expand full comment
Peter Burnett's avatar

I'm sorry, I should not even have mentioned that lousy example, that mouth or the bacward street kid's verbiage that comes out from it.

The crimes we face are not "sad", they are not "depressing" unless we are so world-weary that we're only half alive.

I am not "saddened", I am REVOLTED. And hard put to express my indignation at the filth we have to put up with, filth uttered by those who would rule over you and me. Would-be lords and masters who have thrown away the key to their own conscience.

We have a big problem, in that the sight, the sound, the stink, the touch, the very thought of evil can stain innocent victims and even befoul the beholder.

We need to turn our minds to building the bright world we want to see and get on with doing away with the barricades erected against the service of people and country.

Expand full comment
lin•'s avatar

Wowza!! You go girl!! I hear you!! Yup. As the Met Council on Housing used to say of landlords 'they're not the lords of the land, they're the scum of the earth.'

You are so kind to say Repubs have consciences. It does not seem to be standard issue on all human models.

Expand full comment
Ed Nuhfer's avatar

Exactly. Those who choose to let Trump drive them out of their native language and start another do have that option. I have no intention of walking on eggshells, and as shown above, I am fine quoting another person who isn't walking on egshells either.

Expand full comment
Peter Burnett's avatar

I wish I understood what you've just said. I wasn't walking on eggshells, I was dancing on them, no doubt because of my wretched professional hangups. I'm a wordsmith, and now it's I who feel I'm being driven out of my native language -- not by that unmentionable creep, I'm trying to reclaim and redeem a word YOU and too many others have been misusing.

Can't find any excuse for that here: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sad

Or should we use euphemisms for your last Administration, like "a pity" or "a mistake"?

Pardon me for putting all so rudely.

Expand full comment
Ed Nuhfer's avatar

Well, kinda reminds me of Trump who has the irritating habit of saying everything twice, as if it added credibility (like shouting in all caps), and presuming his is the only voice that matters and all around him should walk on eggshells. If someone actually feels, sad, he presumes they need his permission to say it or feel it because it is not what he feels. Good grief.

Expand full comment
Peter Burnett's avatar

Yes, that piece of low life has fouled everything he touched, especially Truth, the language and his country.

It really would be better if we could avoid any mention of him so long as he's not in the zoo, ditto any mention of the Russian president's name, for the same reason as that one has banned any mention of Navalny (or, come to think of it, any other of his victims...). Ever mention of a name has propaganda value.

Do we still have to be like mutts being shown our shit?

Expand full comment
Peter Burnett's avatar

Sorry... EVEN mention of a name...

Expand full comment
Peter Burnett's avatar

Lord, it must be getting too late, I'm not with it any more... I meant EVERY single mention... as George Lakoff made clear in Don't Think of an Elephant...

Expand full comment