The New Doublespeak

Explores the continued use of evasive, deceptive, and self-contradictory language, examining how it works and the harmful effects on individuals and on society

The author "exposes the latest doublespeak that permeates what passes for communication in our society."--Jacket.

Describes the four different types of doublespeak (euphemism, jargon, gobbledygook, and inflated language).

This timely intervention exposes the euphemized language of the extreme right as a deceptive attempt to secure greater influence over public policy. Since the end of World War II, the extreme right has made strategic use of “doublespeak,” which apes the language of liberal democracy. Attentive observation and accurate recognition of these tactics means taking the extreme right’s deliberately crafted slogans, symbols, and themes seriously. These essays investigate the extreme right’s attempts at “repackaging” contemporary ultranationalism to make it more palatable to mainstream European and American tastes.

In an increasingly Orwellian world, everyone should be armed with this hilarious, slyly subversive deconstruction of the slippery locutions of spinmeisters from all walks of public life. Doublespeak guru William Lutz (Doublespeak, The New Doublespeak) is uniquely qualified to bring you this supremely funny expos‚ of the juiciest ways THEY are trying to bamboozle you! A sampling of Doublespeak Defined: Bald n./ :hair disadvantaged Men in Japan aren't bald; they're "hair disadvantaged," according to The Japan Economic Journal. Diet n./ :1.nutrional avoidance therapy 2. caloric reduction program Frozen adj./ :1 deep chilled 2. fresh 3. hard chilled 4. previously frozen The USDA considers processed chickens "fresh," not frozen, if they have been chilled to 28 degrees Fahrenheit. Chickens so processed have not been frozen but "deep chilled." Light Switch n./ :ideogram illumination intensity adjustment potentiometer Waste paper basket n./ :user-friendly, space-effective, flexible desk side sortation unit Government officials in Toronto, Canada, paid $123.80 (Canadian) each for these items.

Shows how bureaucratic language is deliberately used to mislead, distort, and deceive

With more than 1,200 terms, this A to Z dictionary is a hard-hitting, politically savvy translation of all those evasions, put-on-holds, distortions, circumventions, obfuscations, and misleading terms used by government, businesses, and the media.

Tariq Ramadan is a global phenomenon. A Swiss-born Muslim activist, he is the grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, the radical group credited with inspiring modern Islamic radicalism. Ramadan is fluent in English, French and Arabic. In Europe, he is the most quoted and circulated writer on Islam. His writings are a regular feature of major English-speaking newspapers, but his real message is revealed in his speeches to Muslim groups in France, Africa, and the Middle East. Caroline Fourest has carefully transcribed and translated those speeches and shows that Ramdan's ingenious rhetoric is a Trojan horse, fostering the anti-Semitic and anti-Christian values of fundamentalist Islam on its latest battlefield: Western civilization.