“Verbicide means what it sounds like, the murder of a word, which [C.S.] Lewis said can be accomplished in a number of ways... In our own day, I think we could say that some powerful words in our vocabulary are in the sort of transition Lewis describes here. Discriminating is nearly always bad now, not a power of telling one thing from another. Diverse is nearly always good, not a quality of difference among things. Equality and Liberty are always to be celebrated, without our pausing to ask equality in what things? or liberty to do what? Development is always taken to mean progress, and progress is invariably good, whereas traditional means the bad stuff we have inherited from our far less developed ancestors. These words are suffering slow-motion verbicide. We should try not to contribute to it. You can see that I have come back around to where I began these reflections on language, with some observations on political things. For the act of verbicide seems to be especially rampant in that field where our political reflection and choice are concerned. ~ Dr. Matthew J. Franck, The Witherspoon Institute Dr. Francks commencement address to a preparatory K-12 academy specializing in classical education is full of great advice regarding the use of language. As a writer, speaker and instructor, words are the tools of my craft, and I do my best to use them deliberately, wisely and respectfully, and I analyze the words of others in the same manner. Our political discourse is deliberate in the misuse of language to accomplish opportunistic objectives. and we must be the ones to counter it with precision, clarity, elegance and directness. The advice Dr. Franck cites in his remarks from the great English writer, Dorothy L. Sayers, says it best: [O]ne should not keep rubbish lying about in the house of the mind.
Posted on: Sat, 14 Jun 2014 21:51:52 +0000
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