Language Abuse Part 2: Everyday Examples
Language Abuse Part 2: Examples from Everyday Life
These are relatively simple, everyday examples to give the reader a feel for how the abuse mechanisms are used in day to day situations. For more complex, stacked patterns, see the Historical Examples page.
1. 'You could do with a new jacket'
ANALYSIS
You could do with
{Assertion: this is the opinion of the speaker, but it's not stated as an opinion}
a new jacket
{presupposes there is an old jacket +what kind of jacket? +new in what way?}
2. 'Welcome to tonight's edition of X. I've got two special guest stars for you tonight, Y and Z, and we're all going to really enjoy ourselves, aren't we.'
ANALYSIS
'Welcome to tonight's edition of X.
{presupposes there have been/will be other editions +asserts it is night}
I've got two special guest stars
{first person/possessive +'special' in what way? What is normal? +assertion that the guests are 'stars' +'stars' is a relative term}
for you tonight, Y and Z,
{at least Y and Z get named, allowing the listener to make up his/her own mind on 'star' quality
and we're all
{shift from I to we: who is 'we'? + asserts 'all': who is all?}
going to really enjoy ourselves,
{assertion of future +enjoy is a qualitative experience +'really' used to aid assertion of reality}
aren't we.'
{tag phrase}
3. And now for a Fortune Teller script. Vague language is a technique often employed by self styled clairvoyants and it's useful to analyse a bit of it:
'As I look at your life line, I can see that you have had some troubles recently - but you have a good heart line which shows you have emotional strength and reslience that will see you through.'
ANALYSIS
As I look at your life line,
{presupposes a 'life' line exists & implicitly has something to do with 'life' +'life' is a generalisation}
I can see that you have had some troubles recently
{presupposes the line has some relation with troubles +'troubles' not specified +'recently' not defined}
- but you have a good heart line
{presupposes a heart line & some relation with 'heart' +'heart' not defined +'good' is a relative word with no system of measure}
which shows
{presupposes the line has a link with something: implies the speaker knows the link & meaning}
you have emotional strength and reslience
{the presupposed links +'emotional', 'strength' and 'resilience' not specified}
that will see you through.
{speculation into future +'see you through' - what, when, how, where?}
{Now, if you think that is just an exercise, read the paragraphs below:
a) 'As I look at your personnel records, I can see that you have had some troubles recently - but you have a good psychological profile which shows you have emotional strength and reslience that will see you through.'
b) 'As I look at your family history, I can see that you have had some troubles recently - but you have a good nature which shows you have emotional strength and reslience that will see you through.'}
4. I could hardly believe my ears: yesterday afternoon, I visited the local town and briefly overheard two women who were sat on a bench and chatting as I passed by. Bear in mind that I was about half way through writing part two of this paper at the time, and I hear this woman say: 'It's true what people say, isn't it?' I didn't hear the next fragment (a third party interrupted them, and I was busy picking myself up off the floor).
ANALYSIS
It's true
{Assertion +measure of truth not defined}
what people say
{presupposition that people say something and speak the truth +'people' is undefined +what they say is unspecified}
isn't it?
{tag phrase, not a real question +I've just said something meaningless: agree with it}
{The entire statement says nothing and is totally superfluous - or is it? Presumably, and I'm making an assumption here, the sentence was used to give some semblance of (dubious) credibility by serving as predicate to a following sentence - which never came - e.g. 'All men really are bastards.' The logic would appear to be that if you agree with sentence 1 - i.e. agree with the speaker's 'isn't it', then you also agree with sentence 2 along the causal lines that:
- people say 'true' things
- I agree that people say true things
- 'statement X' is one of these true things
- therefore I agree with X}
I doubt if those women have ever heard of Aristotle!
5. 'I know exactly what you are thinking.'
ANALYSIS
I know
{the speaker asserts (occult) knowledge}
exactly
{precision occult knowledge}
what you are thinking
{presupposes the listener is actually thinking + unspecified 'what'}
{At a glance, these 'mind reading' type statements seem almost too trite and ridiculous to deserve an analysis but since they are a) COMMONPLACE and b) can be used for as a very subtle means of influence (see below), they are worthy of inclusion.}
6. 'I know exactly what you are thinking, you're thinking about going shopping.'
ANALYSIS
I know exactly what you are thinking
{analysis as above}
you are thinking
{assertion that the listener is thinking}
about going shopping
{shopping is ill defined +assertion that this is actually what the listener is thinking about}
{this is an extremely pernicious device: because of the way the human mind works, to actually receive and interpret words, the listener must 'think' at some level. The statement 'don't think of blue' requires that you think of blue to make sense of it. Likewise saying that you know what someone is thinking & they are thinking of X makes the first part of the utterance true in the manner of a self fulfilling prophecy}
7. Some Miscellaneous Observations
These arise from listening, non-interventionally, to the speech patterns of people around me in various venues:
-- a man who came out with six consecutive, unqualified assertions in a conversation before he asked a single question
-- another who spoke in short sentences and then REPEATED the last four or so words two, sometimes three, times
-- one person using tag phrases (isn't it, can't you, aren't you, won't you) on more than 90% of their sentences
-- widespread use of the following presuppositional/assertive forms: 'You must/will/need...' 'It's like this...' 'He/she used to...' 'We will...' 'I'll tell you what...' 'Why don't you...' 'Did you know that...' 'I/we don't want...' 'I know why...' 'There is always...' 'There's just...' 'You could do with...'
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Language Abuse Part 3
Language Abuse Part 4
Email: zenhead@globalnet.co.uk
