Do you use Weasel Words?

[riddler 0]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weasel_words

Quote

A weasel word is used to avoid making a straightforward statement. Weasel words are also used to deceive, distract, or manipulate an audience. For example, the statement “up to 50% off on all our products” is attractive because it displays the highest decrease in price one may find at a certain store; however, it doesn't specify how many products are even on sale.

This expression first appeared in Stewart Chaplin's short story Stained Glass Political Platform, published in 1900 in The Century Magazine:

“ Why, weasel words are words that suck the life out of the words next to them, just as a weasel sucks the egg and leaves the shell. ”

Contents

* 1 Generalizing
* 2 Non sequitur or apparent conclusion
* 3 Extrapolating
* 4 Passive voice
* 5 In business
* 6 Non sequitur or apparent conclusion
* 7 Articles and books on weasel words
* 8 Quotes
* 9 See also
* 10 External links
* 11 References

Generalizing

Generalizing by means of quantifiers, such as 'many' or 'better', as well as the passive voice ("it has been decided") enters into weasel wording because it conceals the full picture. In this way, one may evade responsibility for what may be inferred. On the other hand, vagueness detracts from the validity of a statement.

Non sequitur or apparent conclusion

Often used in advertising to make it appear that the statement is a sales point:

* "Our product is so good, it was even given away in celebrity gift bags."
* "See why more of our trucks are sold in southern California than in any other part of the country."
* "Becoming involved with this problem would be beneficial to us."

* "People say…" (Which people?)
* "I heard that..." (Who told you? Is the source reliable?)
* "There is evidence that..." (What evidence? Is the source reliable?)
* "Experience shows that..." (Whose experience? What was the experience? How does it demonstrate this?)
* "It has been decided that..." (Who decided this?)
* "It has been mentioned that..." (Who mentioned it?)
* "Popular wisdom has it that..." (Is it actually popular wisdom?).
* "It is known that..." (By whom is it known?).

There are some generalizations which are considered unacceptable in writing. This category embraces what is termed a 'semantic cop-out', represented by the term allegedly.[2] This phrase, which became something of a catch-phrase on the weekly satirical BBC television show, Have I Got News For You, implies an absence of ownership of opinion which casts a limited doubt on the opinion being articulated.

Extrapolating

Extrapolating through the use of grammatical devices such as qualifiers and the subjunctive can be used to introduce facts which are beyond the proof of the cited work. This is a legitimate function of language, which resembles weaseling.

When it is impractical to enumerate and cite many individual works, then the use of these grammatical devices conforms to the standards established by tradition.

For example: "For scientists as for so many others, evolution served as an example of a fundamental challenge to long-held convictions".

Also rhetorically valid is the use of the neuter pronoun it and the adverb there as impersonal dummy subjects, as when an author intends to distance himself/herself from the work, or to separate one part of the text from another:

* "At the beginning, it was the train that was late."
* "It was a matter of total indifference that..."
* "After the end of the Californian gold rush, there were many ghost towns."
* "There are people who wash very infrequently."

The personal pronoun 'one', as a subject or an object in formal speech, that refers either to oneself or as a generalization to anyone in a similar situation, may also be used justifiably to distance a speaker from a subject.

* "One wonders what else was being discussed that evening".
* "What can one do in circumstances such as these?"

[edit] Passive voice

The passive voice can be used to weasel away from blame.

* "The container with pathogenic organisms slipped from my hand and they escaped from the lab."
* "We were playing cricket and the window broke."
* "Becoming involved with this problem would be beneficial to us."

In business

Weasel words may be used to detract from an uncomfortable fact, such as firing staff. By replacing firing staff with headcount reduction, one may soften meaning. [3] Jargon of this kind is used to describe things euphemistically.

In certain kinds of advertisements, words are missing or withheld deliberately to influence the buyer. Notice that words such as 'more' or 'better' are misleading due to the absence of a comparison:

* "...up to 50% off." (How many items were actually decreased in price by half? The statement holds true even if the price of only one item is reduced by half.)
* "... is now 20% cheaper!" (Is it really 20% cheaper than the last product?)
* "More people are using..." (What does that mean in numbers?)
* "Manufacturer's Suggested Price." (Suggested for customer affordability or company profit?)
* "Four out of five people would agree..." (How many subjects were included in the study?)
* "... is among the (top, leading, best, few, worst, etc.)" (Top 100? Best in customer service/quality/management?)

Non sequitur or apparent conclusion

Another approached used in advertising that appears to be a sales point but doesn't really say anything::

* "Our product is so good, it was even given away in celebrity gift bags." (True, perhaps, but not relevant.)
* "See why more of our trucks are sold in southern California than in any other part of the country." (So? Southern California is a big vehicle market.)
* "Nobody else's product is better than ours." (They're all about the same.)

Articles and books on weasel words

Australian author Don Watson collected two volumes (Death Sentence and Watson's Dictionary of Weasel Words) documenting the increasing use of weasel words in government and corporate language. He maintains a website[4] encouraging people to identify and nominate examples of weasel words.

Carl Wrighter discussed weasel words in his book I Can Sell You Anything (1972).

Earlier in his Report on Unidentified Flying Objects (1956), U.S. Air Force Captain Edward J. Ruppelt described astronomer Dr. J. Allen Hynek's report on the death of Air Force Pilot Thomas Mantell in pursuit of a UFO as "a masterpiece in the art of 'weasel wording'."[5]

Quotes

“ One of our defects as a nation is a tendency to use what have been called 'weasel words'. When a weasel sucks eggs the meat is sucked out of the egg. If you use a 'weasel word' after another there is nothing left of the other. ”

—Theodore Roosevelt May 13 1916 Speech in St Louis,

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[lawrocket 3]

Do I use weasel words?

Um. Do you know what I do for a living?

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[waltappel 1]

Quote

Do I use weasel words?

Um. Do you know what I do for a living?

Professional weasel?

Walt