In World War 1, there was a condition in which the human mind broke or was about to break. This condition was referred to as “Shell Shock.” In World War 2, the same condition existed, with no actual differences in its nature. However, it was then referred to as “Battle Fatigue.” In the Vietnam War, the same condition as before was then titled “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.”
There is an epidemic in the language we speak that attempts to minimize the harm of daily events by making words sound softer. As a result, we have avoided feeling uncomfortable at the expense of mutilating our language. “Death” is now titled “passing away,” “toilet paper” became “bathroom tissue,” and a litany of other expressions have changed.
The gradual loss of vigor in American language has been intentional. It is a deliberate attempt by society and its owners to minimize issues at large. Businesses do it all the time. When a company is ‘levering up,’ it often means, in regular language, that it is spending money it does not have. When it is ‘right-sizing’ or finding ‘synergies,’ it often fires its employees. When it ‘manages stakeholders,’ it could be lobbying or bribing. When somebody calls into ‘customer care,’ they care very little. But when they call anyone, even at dinnertime, then it is a ‘courtesy call.’
It even minimizes the plight of others. ‘Poor people’ used to live in slums. Now ‘the economically disadvantaged’ occupy ‘substandard housing’ in the ‘inner cities.’ They have no money in the bank. Now being broke is referred to as having a ‘negative cash flow.’ This subtext of language is not an improvement, but rather a continued attempt at concealing the injustice our society commonly produces.
Addressing these problems has only led to backlash. Oftentimes, those who protest this type of language are called bigoted and insensitive. The core issue is that soft language is fundamentally ingrained into our lives. Political correctness in some scenarios is a positive force that reinforces the idea that some rhetoric is inappropriate. However, it has run far too rampant in our vocabularies. The slightest inconsistencies and flaws in our language are no longer taken with grace. They are judged and regarded as a fault of the people who use straightforward language.
Minimizing issues will not solve them. Hiding behind our language will only continue to harm society. If an issue such as “Shell shock” was still referred to in its original name, the veterans that fought in the Vietnam War may have gotten the help they needed. The poor who suffer from a lack of basic needs, like clean food and water, would be more retroactively supported if their plight was taken seriously and realistically.
Soft language is a phenomenon which will continue to exist. The only way to solve the problems of our world is for people to address them as what they are. A failure to do so is a failure to be a just society. Work hard, play hard, and speak hard.
