The most abused word in the English language?

Theres no debate because you said theres no debate and therefore stamps out any chance for having a debate. lol. You cant prove your positions correct by saying everybody knows it.

And no, anarchism would NEVER work. This is the year 2012. We arent wearing loin clothes and wrapping our feet in leaves. We have trade, we have nuclear weapons, we have agriculture, we have a society, a society that would not exist if society was a lawless society where anything goes. Thats called chaos.

No, it really is a fact that societies existed without governments for however long there were societies before some people in the middle east invented the concept.

As far as it being impossible beside the technological system - that is also obviously true. There is no way you could sustain the complexity of this system without a fascist government. I guess we just have to ask if the technological system is doing anything at all good that we want to sustain, and whether it is worth giving up everything about our humanity in order to sustain it. Because it's all going to have to go.

I lived in China for a while. It is all gone there. Maybe that is what we want to become. Or maybe we want to go back to the jungle. Those are the options.

Originally posted by Nicolas Flamel
This is more than one word, but people use them interchangeably, which kind of irks me:

They're
Their
There

To that list we must surely add:

See
Saw
Seen

When the word seen is used incorrectly I cringe and feel sick.

reply to post by theBigToe
Propaganda: allegations, facts, opinions and the like, systematically spread with the intention of helping or harming some individual, group institution or movement.

brainwashing: systematic indoctrination by psycological manipulation to undermine or change political beliefs
>>(I will add beliefs of any kind)

**from Webster Encyclopedia of English Language copyright 1972-71

Based on these definitions I would have to say yesto the part of your question "is everybody pro-Western brainwashed by propaganda? "
I will add that I feel that everyone in the world is constantly being influenced through proaganda and brainwash tactics via religion, nationalism, patriotism, racism, sexism, and fear by many different factions including our own US Goverment and the news media.

At least thats been my impression

I don't hear the word propaganda used very often.

Even though I am old I hang with a younger crowd as well as my life long old friends.

We just call it what it is. That being, government lies to sway the the sleeping majority.

I'm all for throwing out the word propaganda immediately.
It is a rather dated word and I see no use for it anymore.

I think its the word justice ...........peace

I think the most (ab)used word is "uh", followed closely by "um".

Why is it so difficult for people to simply stop speaking when confounded by their own thoughts? Why is there any need for stammering? Are people so often convoluted in their thoughts that there's such a broad gap between what they want to say and what they do say to cause such a pause?

I find "literally" and "ironic" to be the most abused words in the English language.

Both are used wayyyyy too often, and are almost always used incorrectly.

Propaganda is used quite a bit too, however propaganda is a matter of perception. Information one would use to help his/her own cause is considered truth. Use that exact same information to derail someone's cause, and that information suddenly becomes "propaganda."

propaganda |ˌpräpəˈgandə|
noun
1 chiefly derogatory information, esp. of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view : he was charged with distributing enemy propaganda.
• the dissemination of such information as a political strategy : the party's leaders believed that a long period of education and propaganda would be necessary .

most abused word is

I

reply to post by ZeussusZ


You beat me to it.

The most abused word in the English language is "I".

Originally posted by dizziedame

Originally posted by Nicolas Flamel
This is more than one word, but people use them interchangeably, which kind of irks me:

They're
Their
There

To that list we must surely add:

See
Saw
Seen

When the word seen is used incorrectly I cringe and feel sick.

Cringe: "Thet's raight, ah seen 'em!"

My faves:

brisk
brisker
brisket

Is I think, propaganda. I dont think its possible to get through a single conversation with somebody and be pro-American, without them throwing the words propaganda and brainwashed at you. So, is everybody pro-Western brainwashed by propaganda? Or are we just using this word too much? What do you think?

reply to post by theBigToe


Hmm You seem to have a problem with the word propaganda. Well, lets look at this issue logically beginning with the definition of the word Propaganda:

source

pro·pa·gan·da noun \ˌprä-pə-ˈgan-də, ˌprō-\
Definition of PROPAGANDA
1 capitalized : a congregation of the Roman curia having jurisdiction over missionary territories and related institutions
2 : the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person
3 : ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one's cause or to damage an opposing cause; also : a public action having such an effect

and then lets add this excerpt from the wiki on propaganda:

source

Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position. While the term propaganda has acquired a strongly negative connotation by association with its most manipulative and jingoistic examples, propaganda in its original sense was neutral, and could refer to uses that were generally benign or innocuous, such as public health recommendations, signs encouraging citizens to participate in a census or election, or messages encouraging persons to report crimes to the police, among others.

Hmmm interesting it seems the word simply means to spread information in support or opposition to a particular cause or institution and yes all governments whether they are benign or malignant engage in that; ie all governments propagandize and even groups and individuals as well.

So, I really don't see the point of your thread, other then you made it because some people in other threads used a perfectly acceptable and in my opinion not overused word in the English language, you got mad and decided to illogical rail against the word. I mean if you get tired of people telling you the sky is blue, do you run off and make a thread railing against the word blue and claim it is overused?

Propaganda is a perfectly fine word and no it's not overused; what ever that means anyway, so suck it up and move on. Unless your a proponent of newspeak, me personally I am against limiting and abolishing words of the English language just because some people don't like them. But, that's just my opinion.

Terrorist
Un-American
Radical
Extremist

Yeah....that'll do it.

The most abused word in English is also the laziest to say/write and also the most selfish word and divisioning word to have ever been invented... Foolish word.

Think about it. It's only a one letter word that doesn't appear in what is written on this most.
And meditate on that.

Much Love Love and Peace to all

Reading many of the other posts in this thread; all I can is WOW.

So many of you are playing the newspeak game, pointing out what you believe to be overused words and at least a couple of posts saying that certain words should be "thrown out" or censored from the English language.

Again, WOW. You should all make yourself acquainted with the term "newspeak", it's quite interesting and eye opening. It's actually what many of the people in this thread are supporting; the idea that the English language should be restricted, condensed and simplified, to the point that the peoples vocabularies become limited and their words stripped of any real meaning.

So sad to see the warnings of "1984" playing out in the minds of so many members of this forum. Of course looking around at my fellow humans on a daily basis; I must say, I am at a loss of which futuristic view my fellow humans are gravitating towards; "1984" or "Idiocracy", I guess, in the end it is a strange amalgam of both.

Originally posted by theBigToe




Im a homosexual and an atheist...

and yes, I love my country because it will defend my right to exist. Am I ignorant that we have our problems? No. Everybody does. Our problems are light in comparison to what kind of problems our people could be facing should we live in another country.

I dont want to live anywhere that my life is threatened for my lifestyle, and I definitely dont want to live in a society completely void of laws, where anything goes. Anarchism would never work.

Did I miss something? Did you just create your own, separate "people"? The homosexuals who constantly wail about acceptance and tolerance are now a separate "people" in your book? Then why would you care about acceptance. You already have your own special legal protections, community, and now "people". You don't need my or anyone's acceptance to live your lifestyle. You've already declared yourself separate from everyone else, now be a man and quit whining about everything. I mean that is the point of this thread right? People are accusing you of spreading propaganda because you will defend your government to the end. Deal with it! But I guess people are just un-American if they don't share your world view right?

I read your little spiel about 9/11. I like to believe in stories that make sense in the physical world, no matter where they lead. Right now their are 2 conflicting stories circulating about the real events of 9/11, the "official story" and the "conspiracy theory". The official story begins where it should end. 19 hijackers armed with box cutters.....etc, you know the story. Now the rest of the story needs to be shaped to fit that conclusion. Physical laws like gravity and inertia need not apply. Same way the story of the JFK assassination was shaped to fit a predetermined conclusion, 3 shots fired from the School Book Depository....etc, you know that story too. That's how we ended up with that ridiculous "Magic Bullet Theory". Add an extra shot or two to realistically explain the magic bullet and the whole story goes to crap, can't have that! The official 9/11 story is the exact same thing. Admit one building (WTC 7) was taken down using pre-planted explosives and the whole story goes to hell. Even though that is the only explanation that is possible in this reality, THAT JUST CAN"T HAPPEN! The so called "conspiracy theory" takes the physical facts of the case and follows them to their only logical conclusion. And that conclusion is that the official story is physically and patently impossible. The only way you can believe this fairy tale is if you begin the narrative with the assumption that "our government could NEVER do that to Americans". Once you believe that you will believe absolutely anything they tell you.

The main problem I see is that the mass majority of people all over the world have an incredibly narrow world view. They literally can't see beyond their narrow self interest. You said so yourself that you love your government because they will protect you and your interests. You will literally say or do anything to defend this government you love because of your own selfish interests. This government indiscriminately kills people all around the world on a daily basis, but you defend them because they protect YOU! I think I just threw up in my mouth a little. And you claim you want acceptance as you rail against Christianity, Islam, and nearly everyone else in the world that your government demonizes. You do know what that makes you right?

reply to post by Kryties


I thought disorientated was just the British way of saying that...?

how about we replace propaganda with coercive marketing. or just plain brainwashing.

The most abused word is 'love'.
If love is god then i think we continue to rape this word.....lol.

I tend to think the most abused word in the english language would be democracy, We're spreading democracy, we're pro democracy, they're anti democracy. I notice many who just take the word at face value without having any idea of the context behind the word.