The Humpty Dumpty Effect

[old man emu]

Apart ending up in an ignominious pile at the base of a wall, Humpty Dumpty is remembered for his wordsmithing ability as stated in this extract from Alice in Wonderland.

 

 

 

Altering the meaning of words to suit the user's needs might be called the "Humpty Dumpty Effect", and it seems to be an effect that has been taken up with gusto by politicians. As with all things there is the good side and the bad side. Politicians are morbidly averse to telling the Public anything bad, or to admit that a situation is beyond the control of the politician. When it comes to speaking of the not-so-good, they resort to euphemisms, a word from Greek euphemismos."use of a favorable word in place of an inauspicious one, or the superstitious avoidance of words of ill-omen ".

 

Politicians spend a lot of time talking about "The Economy", but which is something beyond their control, especially now that each country's economy is merely a small cog in the global economic machine. But politicians are expected to show leadership, and a political leader can't remain a leader very long, by continually uttering gloom and doom statements. So they rely on teh Humpty Dumpty Effect.

 

In political-speak, 'depression" and "recession" are bad words to use when speaking to the Public. So in the present economic climate, the effects of economic downturns on the lives of the Public can't be referred to with those words. A euphemism is required, and what seems to have been adopted is the phrase 'Cost of Living Crisis". As Juliet put it, "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet", but politicians are not talking about roses. They are talking about the Carrion Flower, also known as corpse flowers or stinking flowers, are flowers that emit an odour that smells like rotting flesh.

[Marty_d]

All the king's horses and all the king's men...

said "f*ck him, he's only an egg"