Words of Wisdumb
by Don Wrege
Speaking of impeachment, Richard Nixon's impeachment proceedings gave rise to a
phrase that became a popular part of our national lexicon. The John Deanism, "at
that point in time," found its way into daily conversations back in the late 70's
and held on for a good number of years.
"At that point in time," roughly meant, "We were guilty as all hell, but not
exactly then . . . it was about a week later." But the "week later," part wasn't
stated and usually took another month's worth of testimony to finally discover.
The phrase was an artful, lawyerly way to be truthful and deceptive in the same
breath. A lesson not lost on today's politicians you'll notice.
Let's explore a few popular "helpful" phrases in use today and their actual
meanings.
"Moving forward." This positive sounding quip really means that whatever is being
discussed is hopelessly mired and doomed to failure; but the very recognition of
these facts can be considered progress of sorts. Or, anything that isn't actually
moving backwards or canceled is thus "moving forward." The discussions of term
limits have been "moving forward" for years, for example as have Middle East
peace talks.
"Weapons of mass destruction." This phrase cropped up around the time when the
United States was once again threatening to turn the desert to glass. It roughly
means, somebody somewhere has a weapon that is almost as powerful as ours and
therefore must be stopped or bombed off the face of the planet by OUR weapons of
mass destruction. Russians and people with dark skin have weapons of mass
destruction; our side has "defensive devices." As if smart bombs have a
conscience . . .
"The politics of personal destruction." You'll hear this a lot lately, especially
in speeches by President Clinton's minions. This means, "He's guilty as all hell,
but it is REALLY bitchy of you to keep reminding everybody and we wish you would
stop." Hey, liars have a right to privacy too, apparently.
Light anyone?
