Fallacies of Language
Language is an unavoidable element of everyday life. It is arguably the most important medium by which humans communicate with one another. Without language, society would be a disorderly mess of miscommunication and ambiguity. Recognizing language as such an important aspect of existence causes a person to wonder why it is so often misused and fraught with errors. One need only glance at the front page of a daily newspaper, or read but a single magazine article to observe the rampant use of cliches, over-generalizations, and articles that are nothing more than the opinionated view of the author. Indeed, our modern use of the English language has deteriorated to the point where it loses much of its meaning and both speech and writing convey nothing more than opinions, and vague, general statements accompanying unclear ideas. There are many sources of bad language usage to be found, and one of the more obvious of these can be found in the language of those individuals that shape our country's laws: politicians. Politics therefore, is an excellent source of language misuse. For example, in a recent press release from the Reform Party of Canada (Appendix A), Preston Manning heedlessly reveals his susceptibility to th
In many instances in modern writing, the author wishes nothing more than for his or her opinion to be accepted, and hopes that it will sway the reader to their side of the given argument. Yet often enough, the reader is not given a choice as to which side they are to accept. Instead, they are bombarded by either solely negative or positive images of the given side of the argument. A good example of this can be found in an article in Sojourners magazine titled, "It's a Playboy World After All". The very first sentence of the article contains both a negative opinion and a cliche. Collum, Danny. "It's a Playboy World After All." Sojourners. Jan./Feb. 2000: 52. Newscasters, various. "Untitled News Report." CTV News. 15 Feb. 2000.
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1208
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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