Today my friend was talking about the R word, and I wasn't really aware of what it was, and that it is sometimes treated like a curse word (like the F word). That surprised me, because I don't think I've ever really consciously witnessed the evolution of a word in this way. The first link above is for information on its current controversy. The second link leads to an article that reminded me of Hayakawa, especially the last two paragraphs. The author says, "And I know that if we banish this word from everyone's vocabulary, something equally noxious will probably take its place. But the malice behind this word is palpable and ugly and heart constricting." We have talked about how affective connotation is added onto words. Words describing race with added on connotation are particularly sensitive words. We also talked about how the symbol represents something and even when the symbol itself is gone, the thing symbolized doesn't necessarily disappear too.
The author of the article says, "I am asking for no less than a basic cultural shift." This goes back to Hayakawa as well. I remember talking about how it is hard to create a change in language because pragmatically, people would have to start thinking a different way before speaking a different way, unless thoughtcrime and telescreens existed (which didn't even work out in the end anyway). Hayakawa used the example of Mussolini trying to get people to use the word "voi" instead of "tu" and failed, because language is hard to control when it's in the hands of the people. But I am really interested to see if the R-word campaign will eventually accomplish its goal of eliminating the use of the word from everyday speech. I remember reading about how some economic growth was retarded in the American Pageant last year and being surprised because the word was used in its dictionary-definition intended use, with only the informative connotation. So many words are skewed with connotation and are ruined from then on.
-- tori
Not to be overly cynical, but I feel this R-word campaign's main purpose is simply to save face. Along with this, it's extremely difficult, almost impossible, for the government to change widespread habits of speech that people have. Because of this, I highly doubt the use of the r-word will fade in the coming months.
ReplyDelete-Bryce C.
I agree with Bryce. Although it is certainly the "right" thing to do to eliminate the r-word from everyday speech, it is too engrained in modern American language to just be wiped out by the protests of certain groups of people. However, I don't think people today mean to be derogatory towards mentally disabled people when they use the r-word. Like the mother-in-law who didn't realize the subject of the email, most people use the word to, jokingly or not, put down people like themselves, not mentally disabled people. I feel that they don't even associate it with mentally disabled people most of the time, which shows how a word can almost completely change meaning over time.
ReplyDelete-Audrey