Words to Your Mother

I’m a big fan of words: their meaning, their origins, how they change over time, etc. I supposed I could be viewed as an amateur linguist. If I feel like changing that term, too, I guess that you could call me a non-professional verbiage engineer.

One area of life that seems to have words with ever-changing definitions is politics. Just watching C-SPAN has helped me to see how quite a few words have new meanings: “compromise” used to mean that two parties would come to an agreement after both sides concede something; now “compromise” is used when someone wants someone else to simply agree with them on every issue possible.

The term “open-minded” was previously used to describe someone who was willing to try new things, approaches, or at least willing to listen to new ideas. Now the term “open-minded” is used liberally (no pun intended) by folks to describe themselves, no matter the topic. If anyone disagrees with them on any topic, the self-proclaimed open-minded people just refer to dissenters as “closed-minded.”

The list goes on and on, but I have to thank Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi for proving my point.

While discussing the possibility of a second “stimulus” package (I use quotation marks because it’s my belief that throwing out tax dollars here and there isn’t really stimulating; it’s just a smokescreen), Pelosi also addressed critics who feared having one political party in charge of both Congress and the White House. She said:

Elect us, hold us accountable, and make a judgment and then go from there. But I do tell you that if the Democrats win and have substantial majorities, Congress of the United States will be more bipartisan.

“Bipartisan” is now another word that we can add to the list of words that mean whatever you want them to mean. It used to mean “of or by two parties”; now Pelosi is informing us that it means “of or by one party.” This is odd, because the prefix “bi” still means “two.” Consider these: a bicycle has two wheels; a bisexual prefers both sexes; binoculars have two sets of magnification lenses.

Yet now Speaker Pelosi has determined that one-party rule is bipartisan. A one-party majority, she says, is bipartisan.

I routinely vote for third-party candidates if I vote (which has become more and more a chore, given that so many Americans lap up the daily barrage of two-party bullshit with fervor), so I have no respect for either the Democrats or the Republicans. As for supporters of both parties, I find it humorous when they tout the “differences” of each party — while all these “differences” are actually rooted in the same desire for increased government oversight of almost everything in their lives.

Regardless of which party you’re a part of, you can’t simply change the definitions of words and expect everyone to follow like sheep.

Wait. Who am I kidding?

Reference

Matthews, Mark. “Pelosi Says Don’t Be Afraid of Democrat Control.” KGO-TV ABC 7. 27 Oct. 2008.

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