Items related to Plastic Words: The Tyranny of a Modular Language
Synopsis
Development. "Project." "Strategy." "Problem." These may seem like harmless words, but are they? German writer and linguist Uwe Poerksen calls these words "plastic words" because of their malleability and the uncanny way they are used to fit every circumstance. Like plastic Lego blocks, they are combinable and interchangeable. In the mouths of experts—politicians, professors, corporate officials, and planners—they are used over and over again to explain and justify plans and projects. In the 1940s Harry S. Truman made "underdevelopment" a keystone in U.S. foreign policy, and today the "developed" nations are dedicated to helping their "underdeveloped" neighbors. But who benefits from "development"? Who benefited from the housing "projects" of the 1960s and 1970s? And who among us does not worry when our leaders tell us they have a "strategy" for solving society's "problems"?
According to Poerksen, plastic words began as scientific words with specialized meanings. Many had been imported from the vernacular languages to the sciences, but he finds that in recent decades they have migrated back into the vernacular—stripped of their specialized meanings. They have international currency and appear repeatedly in political speeches, government reports, and academic conferences. They invade the media and even private conversation. They displace more precise words with words that sound scientific but actually blur meaning and disable common language.
Poerksen traces the history of plastic words, establishes criteria for identifying them, and provides a tragicomic critique of the society that relies on them. He shows that when plastic words infiltrate a field of reality, they reorder it in their own image—hence their threat. They are building blocks for new models of reality that may seem utopian but that impoverish the world.
Plastic Words is a translation of the remarkably successful book first published in Germany in 1988. For the English-language edition, Poerksen has added a new preface, explaining the origin of the book and addressing the spirited public debate it has spawned. Bold and provocative, Plastic Words is social and linguistic criticism in the tradition of Jonathan Swift and George Orwell.
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From the Publisher
"Poerksen, the novelist who teaches linguistics in Freiburg, pins down a class of wayward words: ordinary words that in everyday speech are increasingly used like variables in math. He provides tests to catch these terms that ought to be marked by dictionary makers." —Ivan Illich
"In the spirit of George Orwell, Poerksen lays bare the tyranny of the small number of words such as ‘development,’ ‘information’ and ‘strategic plans’ that now corrupt official thinking and even invade our very consciousness. His treatment of ‘plastic words’ is careful and chilling. Study it and wake up." —Jerry Brown, California governor 1975–1983
"We live in a house of language, and our words and expressions are the windows through which we look out at the world. In Plastic Words, Uwe Poerksen shows how the windows through which we perceive reality may be marked by cracks, smudges, blind spots, and filters. If you care about language and truth, you will want to read this incisive exploration of linguistic maps and intellectual territories."—Richard Lederer
Do these words sound familiar? Do they crop up increasingly in conversations at work, at school, on television? On the surface they seem harmless, even powerfully helpful, but are they? German writer and linguist Uwe Poerksen calls them "plastic words" because of their malleability and the uncanny way they can be linked together and used to fit every circumstance. In Plastic Words, Poerksen traces the history of this new class of words and shows how they are homogenizing our speech, thought, and world.
communication system
consolidation
development
energy consumption
health maintenance organization
information society
outcome-based education
problem solving strategy
project
quality control
resource management
role model
sexual relationship
strategic planning process
welfare system
From the Author
Uwe Poerksen is Professor of German Language and Literature at the University of Freiburg. A medievalist by training, he is also a novelist, critic, and internationally respected linguist. He has written many books in German, but this is the first to be available in English.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherPenn State University Press
- Publication date2004
- ISBN 10 0271024925
- ISBN 13 9780271024929
- BindingPaperback
- LanguageEnglish
- Edition number1
- Number of pages136
- Rating
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