Our language has many subsets. We use one subset to speak to infants (kichi-koo) and another to children (little angel, look at grandpa). Still another to talk to pets. One subset to talk to people who are deaf or hard of hearing, another to talk to someone who doesn't speak our language (me no bring wheels). And many others -- including one we use to speak to god (please hear me).
We have a spoken language that is very different from a variety of our written languages.
We have formal languages for funerals (we are gathered today), for commencements and for wedding toasts. We have informal languages for intimate persuasion (my sweet, wonderful).
This paper is for a subset that is a current issue: political language. We have an important subset of English that is spoken by politicians, nearly all of them, nearly all the time. George Orwell wrote a paper on the subject, but he was mostly complaining about the dishonesty of political language.
I am particularly conscious of the issue because it divides America today. There is one group who dislike political language and are attracted to President Trump partly because of the non-political way he speaks. There is another group that doesn't have a strong dislike of political talk; they dislike the non-political language that Trump speaks.
So what is political language?
I will use a brief announcement made yesterday by the mayor of my city. She said: 'I have received many calls from my fellow citizens about the crowding and unsanitary conditions on the sidewalks in the Tenderloin, a district that is only a few minutes walk from City Hall. I am immediately taking action to move us forward. We will cleanup the mess and remedy the situation with strong action and determination. Whatever it takes, we will clean it up.'
So what did she say? Depends on what you, the listener, wanted her to say. Some listeners, her supporters, will believe she is directing a group of city employees to move the homeless off the sidewalks and clean the sidewalks and streets. Other listeners heard her promise nothing. Still others heard her say she is getting complaints, but this isn't a government problem and nothing can be done.
The nature of political language is that it operates at a level of ambiguity that allows for a variety of interpretations.
Non-political language in the same situation would be: 'The Tenderloin is filled with tents, homeless people and garbage on the street. Starting tomorrow, I have a designated a team of city workers and police to move the homeless to two resettlement shelters. Another team will physically wash all the sidewalks and streets. Within the next seven days the neighborhood will be as clean as we can make it.'
Compare the two statements. One is political language that is entirely ambiguous and allows for multiple interpretations and no accountability. The second is standard English with some accountability.
Trump is the second president to come to office from a business background. The first was Harry Truman, who was considered 'unpolished' and 'blunt'.
I have said it often and most readers who have a business background will agree that internal business language is based on honesty and candor. An employee or manager who is not honest within the business will be removed. Dishonesty can lead to supplier trouble, customer lawsuits and employee legal actions. To get rid of an employee the law often requires written proof of disregard for clear management directions.
President Trump has managed and supervised thousands of workers, staff and employees; he has a long habit of clear, simple, direct and honest language.
His followers admire his candor. His opponents ridicule and denigrate it.
Why does a large part of the population like political language and demand it of politicians? It is not an answer I can give. My guess is that it is so universal among politicians that it is taken as a sign of political skill.
In search for images to use in this piece, I found dozens of cartoons that make the same point I have made here about political language.
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