Stuff You Ought To Know Already

 I take a fair amount of crap for my pedantry.  I seriously think that words ought to have specific meanings.  If you must know the exact context to understand a general statement, you are being lied to.

I grew up understanding that it was possible to purchase consumable alcohol that had not been subject to regulatory process and also had not been taxed.  The product was widely known as “moonshine”.  I also heard it referred to as “splo” and “white lightning”.

Eventually, those with a faulty(read: immoral) understanding of capitalism come for most everything.  This time, they came for words.  They started making and selling a product that adhered to regulations and that they paid taxes on.  They called the product “moonshine”.

Now, I understand marketing concepts reasonably well.  I understand that without some level of marketing, even the most ingenious and useful products can fail to have an impact because so few folks know it exists.  That said, it does not bode well for a product or a company if the only way they can be successful is to create a lie.

Unfortunately, we have become inured to such societal level insults.  I have no idea how many hundreds or thousands of times I have seen advertising “Coldest Beer In The …”.  I would bet tomorrow’s lunch money that none of the businesses where I saw those signs had done any research at all.  I doubt they think of themselves as liars but, actions speak louder than self image.

Politics is rife with lies.  Half-truths, partial-truths or, what Robert Heinlein said was the best way to lie which is to tell the truth so unconvincingly that no one believes you.  If we could start by getting in the habit of using words specifically, we could stand the chance of reducing the amount of overt lies we are subjected to.