1984 in 2009

By Rich Galen March 27, 2009
Rich Galen
  • George Orwell wrote his famous novel "1984" in 1949 but it is coming true in 2009.
  • Last week President Obama announced that we would no longer call enemy combatants "Enemy Combatants."
  • Yesterday the Office of Management and Budget sent a memo instructing people who are fighting the Globral War on Terror that it was no longer Global, nor a War, nor had anything to do with Terror.
  • The new phrase is to be, "Overseas Contingency Operation."
  • Although the OMG denied it was ordering a change in phraseology, Washington Post writers Scott Wilson and Al Kamen reported, "Senior administration officials had been publicly using the phrase 'overseas contingency operations' in a way context for roughly a month before the e-mail was sent."
  • The non-memo went on to strongly suggest that senior Pentagon officials should "pass this onto your speechwriters and try to catch this change before statements make it to OMB."
  • In an editorial, "Investors Business Daily" added, We give tax "cuts" to people who don't pay taxes, spending is "investing."
  • This Obamian move to change the language to suit its policies has its roots in Orwell's 1984. In that novel this was called "Newspeak." That is not pronounced newz-peak, but new-speak.
  • As an example, the word "joycamp" was used to describe a forced labor camp. A "memory hole" was actually a series of pipes into which papers were placed to be shredded.
  • Word take on new meanings all the time. The word "gay" used to be defined as, "excited and merry; manifesting or inclined to joyous exhibition of content or pleasure."
  • I'm pretty sure a remake of the 1934 Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers movie would not, today, be titled "The Gay Divorcee." It might be, but the plot line would probably be different, as would the marketing campaign.
  • When the Hormel Meat Company introduced its Spiced Ham product in 1937 they couldn't have guessed that it would come to mean "unwanted e-mail."
  • Plenty of others:
    Hot didn't used to mean attractive
    Bomb - really attractive
    Bread - money
    Dough - more money
    Cool - hot.
  • Some words take on a different meaning depending upon their usage. A slider at a Major League Baseball game has a far different meaning than it does at a curling match.
  • Let's join in the fun and invent new words and phrases for the Obamian Newspeak dictionary.
    Deficit. Can't have a deficit. Let's change it to "Suspended Surplus." That's good.

    Veto. Too negative. Henceforth it will be known as a "Legislative Facilitation."

    Unemployment. Oh, no. Well be calling that "Occupational Realignment."

    Foreclosure. Nah. "Strategic Housing Stockpile."

    Recession. That's easy. "Bush's Burden."

  • Feel free to send in your own.
  • The big question is: Where is the Office of Redefinition, and how do I get a job there?

Rich Galen, columnist
www.Mullings.com
 Copyright ©2009 Barrington Worldwide, LLC


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