Mind your language

Sep 27, 2001

You would think that in this age of communication when words define who we are, we can use any word we want. But you would be wrong because certain words are off limit for you.

By Opiyo Oloya You would think that in this age of communication when words define who we are, we can use any word we want. But you would be wrong because certain words are off limit for you. Yes, the words are there, just that you cannot touch them in certain context. For example, American military planners learnt the hard way last week when they code-named the fight against terrorism as “Operation Infinite Justice.” It turned out that according to the Muslim faith, only Allah can dispense infinite justice, not mere mortals even if they are the world’s super-power. Accordingly, when Muslim protested, the Pentagon yanked Operation Infinite Justice off the shelve pending the coining of a more acceptable word by its hard-pressed wordsmiths. Then consider the word “Holocaust” which most dictionaries define as “great or total destruction”. You would think that the US use of the two atomic bombs on Japan during World War Two would qualify, since the destruction of Nagasaki and Hiroshima were so complete and total. Or you would think that the Rwanda genocide which saw over a million people butchered would qualify. In both cases you would be wrong because the word has now become inextricably linked to the wholesale murder of six million Jews by Nazi Germany. Somehow, to use the word in any other context seems offensive. prior to the tragedy of September 11 in which terrorists hijacked four American planes using box-cutters, you would be arrested and prosecuted in many countries for uttering the words “bomb”, “gun”, and “hijack”, in an airport or airplane. Since two weeks ago, it’s not kosher to use the words “knife”, “fork”, “terrorist” and “razor” because they have been added to the long-standing list of words you cannot utter while in an airport or in a plane. Others are “mankind” now replaced by “humankind”, “fisherman” replaced by “fishmonger” “policeman” replaced by “police officer.” “Wife” replaced by “spouse” The point is that as you become freer to express yourself, there are fewer words you can use. ends

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