ABOUT-WORDS-L Archives

From: Lee Quinn <>
Subject: a change of pace
Date: Sun, 12 Jan 2003 13:53:54 -0500

Kiddies:

When we have gotten to the point of discussion of non-words (wink-wink,
nudge-nudge) I would like to discuss a subject that seems to strike fear in
etymologists hearts -- the meaning of meaning -- or semantics.

I woke up in the middle of the night and thought about the word LIBERAL and
how words of high level abstraction can take on the personalities of "good
guys" or "bad guys." You see, I have always thought of myself as a liberal
person. However -- if you read the press -- this word seems to have changes
to a term of approbation. Why?

I wrote the following piece and sent it off to my local paper, with no
result, so I ask you all to comment on my writing.

Have fun!

GrampsQ
========================

LIBERAL IN LANGUAGE

According to most dictionaries, liberal is defined as a person favorable to
progress or reform, as in political or religious affairs. The second
definition is: someone who is favorable to the concepts of maximum
individual freedom possible, especially as guaranteed by law and secured by
governmental protection of civil liberties. It is the third definition that
is the nitty-gritty: it is pertaining to representational forms of
government rather than aristocracies and monarchies.
It has been an English word since about 1325, and comes to us from the
Latin *liberalis,* meaning: of freedom, or befitting the free. So where did
this idea go wrong — or did it?
Some people say that it's FDR's fault. When people started raising
questions about the propriety of his New Deal programs, his administration
sought to reassure everyone, saying in effect, "No no, this isn't socialism
or fascism, we're all liberals here." The name took hold, and ever since
in America"liberals" mean those who also label themselves "progressive" and
advocate quasi-socialistic welfare state solutions to social ills.
"Conservatives" are supposed to be defenders of the Constitution, but more
generally they are really defenders of the status quo. Again, going to our
unbiased dictionary, we find that the word conservative means disposed to
preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional
ones, and to limit change.
There is a special study of language called semantics. It is used when
scholars study the meaning of words. Now, you may say, the meaning of words
is right there in the dictionary! This is true to some extent. When we talk
about a pencil, we mean one of the yellow sticks with a point that writes,
at one end, and an eraser on the other. This makes defining the word
"pencil" easy. It's when you get to words like freedom and liberty that the
dictionary is almost useless.
Ask a citizen of Iraq what freedom means and he will tell you in all
sincerity what he thinks freedom means — which will be far different than
we think the definition is. In fact, freedom (and words like that) very
rarely have the same meaning twice! This is the burden of language. It is
not as simple as most of us believe.
Now — after understanding the problems of language — you may be able to
see that labeling someone a liberal or conservative is tricky business. For
instance — in the dictionary definition of a liberal — it describes an
individual who cares for people and tries to help them. Can that be wrong?
Then why is it that today, labeling someone as a liberal is demeaning?
The obvious answer is that it is in the method of helping people. We all
give to charities — there is no picketing churches when they preach that
"blessed are the merciful" — when a story is in the news about children
being starved by their parents the TV stations receive thousands of offers
for help.
Probably, the easiest reason to understand for this division is the term
"tax and spend liberals." Many people rightly feel that the government is
responsible for the poorly worded legislation that, in the past, has
supposed to help poor people get ahead but was administered so unwisely
that it encourages cheats and malingerers.
Unfortunately, this anger causes us to "throw out the baby with the bathwater."

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• a change of pace by Lee Quinn <>