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Show 1 I SuPfcRT- THE 0FF1C1AL I FEEL LKE WT F PEPPLE po'T fMKE A tFFoRT TO LEW GOCO EN(3L5H THEYAT6oTNPRWTof v Where do words stop and communication begin? Howard Noel Director, WSC News and Public Information The student was asked by his advisor if he had matriculated. His answer: "Oh, I have a couple of beers now and then, but that's about as wild as I ever get." From the time we enter school until we walk across the Dee Event Center floor at graduation, and certainly beyond that, our success in all endeavors depends greatly on the ability to understand our native language and to be understood. But it is not easy these days. Well-educated men and women, upon whom we rely for "the word," are consistently alerting us to the dangers of "atmospheric deposition of anthropogenically derived acidic substances" (acid rain in the vulgar). Or they report of "negative contributions to profits" (losses to those who dabble in the stock market). Edwin Newman, the author of several books on the English language, calls it "newspeak"; George Orwell calls it "doublespeak." Newman says there is a distressing trend toward expanded and fanciful language, designed "... to conceal, rather than reveal the real purpose of something." In a recent issue of U.S. News & World Report, the National Council of Teachers of English were reported to have written: "(Such language) avoids or shifts responsibility and conceals or prevents thought. And it's getting worse." Yes, it is getting worse, and I believe it will take a full generation of educated, clear-thinking young men and women to step in and insist that this manner of language abuse be treated with the contempt which it has earned. When I meet with friends and professional colleagues, I find that we are actually "networking," (it is very difficult for me to believe that a noun, even when planted in nothing but manure, can grow into a verb). I know there are those who contend that it is more important to be understood than to be grammatically correct. They are those, I believe, who have, in their crusade to make the language more easily understood, accomplished just the opposite. I believe that this philosophy has become an enemy to its author and a danger to the English language, and those who adopt it are treating our language in the same cavalier manner as those who describe the homeless as "non-goal-oriented members of society." Each profession is rife with its own language abuse. For example: If you should die in a hospital, chances are you are not simply dead, but rather the victim of "negative patient care outcome" or a "therapeutic misadventure resulting in a terminal episode." At the very least, according to one hospital, you "did not fully achieve your wellness potential." I'll say not! When the United States was dropping bombs on Cambodia, one Air Force colonel attacked the media with a vengence. "You always write it's bombing, bombing, bombing," he said. "It's not bombing. It's air support." A rose by any other name ... except in newspeak .... Remember when you worked your way through high school by bagging groceries at the local Alpha Beta? Perhaps you would have been treated with more respect if those who came through the checkstands knew they were being served by a "career associate scanning professional." According to U.S. News c? World Report, the U.S. Commerce Department recently replied to one employee's request for a raise with the following explanation (?): "Because of the fluctuational predisposition of your position's productive capacity as juxtaposed to government standards, it would be monetarily injudicious to advocate an increment." (But how much did the employee get?) And so it goes ... Let us as students and educators not be intimidated by those who have fallen into George Orwell's imaginary society of "1984" where language was full of euphemisms, exaggerations and "doublethink" phrases designed to hide true meaning. There is beauty in the classics of literature, not only in their thoughts and philosophies but also in the use of the English language. Let us not allow this highly-technical society, which has furnished us with so much, to overtake our basic tools of communication and reduce our language and thought to "social expression products." Editor-in-Chief Linda R. Nimori Managing Editor JaNae Barlow News Editor Christopher Gamble Assistant News Editors Mark Hadley Yun Hui Pak ports Editor Dave Allisi.'i Assistant Sports Editor Blaine Bringhurst ArtsEntertainment Editor Tanja Schaffer Signature Editor Sheila Christensen SignOff Editor hmilie Bean Copy Editor Christopher James Photographers Judd Bundy Jeff Bybee Darwin Shaw Douglas Steed Graphic Artist Michael Chrislenson Staff Reporters Terry E. Allen Harold Davis Phil Douglass Karen Farley Katy Frandsen Sue lliatt Jennifer Infills Monica Ray Kalhrvn Ward Rod Ziindcl Advertising Manager Carter Andersen Ad Representatives J. Armstrong Harold Davis Karen J. I.eonardi Susan Rivas Production Manager S. Leroy Sturgeon Assistant Production Mgr Kristen Olson Production Staff Alisa Buck Larry Jensen Jon Iwis Mark Plumley A d visor P. Larry Stahlc Assistant Advisor I.oretta Park Secretary Jolet Olsen Publisher Randolph J. Scott Letter Policy The Signpost welcomes letters to the editor. They must he typed and should not exceed 400 words In length. The Signpost reserves the right to edit for reasons of space and libel and reserves the right to refuse to print any letter deemed Inappropriate. Letters MI'S! Include complete name, address, phone number, social security numher, relationship to WSC (student, fiicully, staff, Ogden resident, etc.) and signature of writer. If letters arc no) accompanied hv the preceding Information, they will he discarded. Deadlines for letters to the editor are Tuesdays nl noon for Thursday's edition and Krlduys dI noon for I uesdav's edition. The Weber State College Signpost is published twice weekly during the school vear and once week during (he summer by the WSC Department of Communication. Kdilorlal comment appearing In this publication is that of the Signpost staTf or g lies I contributors and does nol necessarily reflect the views of Weber Slate College in general. 1 he Signpost Is lovaled in Ihe Union Building, room 267. 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