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After writing "Language Matters" on March 23, I thought of some additional highly misleading (yet largely unquestioned) phrases that I felt merited another blog-post. "Newspeak" definitely didn't end in 1984! If any of you reading this can think of other examples, please feel free to comment!
In the 1990s, we had "ethnic cleansing" used to justify some barbaric actions that were nowhere remotely related to cleanliness or godliness.
In the context of food and diet, "cleanse" is often used to describe some fad diet or perhaps fad-fast where you eat only orange foods on Tuesdays and Thursdays, blue foods on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and purple foods on Saturdays and Sundays. Well, not quite, but to me it seems about on that level of logic. Terms like "light" and "all-natural" are also used a lot and don't really mean much. Even a term like "organic" can be pretty confusing unless you have a thorough knowledge of the food industry. And none of those terms necessarily means that the food product is tastier or better for you.
But here's my nomination for the worst phrase of 2014 (and possibly 2015): "herd immunity". It's generally used by doctors, scientists and other concerned citizens to encourage parents to get their children vaccinated. You hear things like "We need a 95% vaccination rate in order to achieve herd immunity for measles." I hate that expression!
I hasten to add that I definitely support the pro-vaccination lobby, at least for the very serious diseases and where the vaccines are clearly effective. And I would include measles (at least the red measles, or rougeola) as a serious disease - I was very sick with it as a child, before the vaccine was developed.
Pro-vaxers are amongst the first to admit that you're not likely to get the vaccine-hesitant folks on side by bombarding them with all kinds of facts and statistics. A few key facts or statistics, maybe. But you're aiming at their hearts more than their heads, the fact that they love their children and want what's best for them.
"Herd immunity" does indeed pack an emotional punch - but I don't think it's the one we want. In effect, we're likening people's children to cattle! And while I don't want to minimize the genuine affection that farmers may have for their livestock (maybe even those that are ultimately destined for the dinner table), it's hardly the same thing as the relationship between human parents and their children. It conjures up images of all your children being killed off if one of them comes down with foot-and-mouth, brucellosis or BSE, just as a herd of cattle might all be slaughtered if one cow has (or even is merely suspected of having) one of those diseases! Are scare tactics going to sway people in favour of immunization or just drive them underground to avoid the vaccination police? Most likely the latter, I think.
It would be better to use a phrase like "group immunity", "crowd immunity", "population immunity" or even the cornily poetic "community immunity". Or we could say something like "general immunity" or "mass immunity". If we want to indulge in a little hyperbole to put an even more positive spin on things, we might even dare to say "universal immunity".
But "herd immunity" is definitely one of those phrases that deserves to be sent straight to the slaughterhouse!
In the 1990s, we had "ethnic cleansing" used to justify some barbaric actions that were nowhere remotely related to cleanliness or godliness.
In the context of food and diet, "cleanse" is often used to describe some fad diet or perhaps fad-fast where you eat only orange foods on Tuesdays and Thursdays, blue foods on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and purple foods on Saturdays and Sundays. Well, not quite, but to me it seems about on that level of logic. Terms like "light" and "all-natural" are also used a lot and don't really mean much. Even a term like "organic" can be pretty confusing unless you have a thorough knowledge of the food industry. And none of those terms necessarily means that the food product is tastier or better for you.
But here's my nomination for the worst phrase of 2014 (and possibly 2015): "herd immunity". It's generally used by doctors, scientists and other concerned citizens to encourage parents to get their children vaccinated. You hear things like "We need a 95% vaccination rate in order to achieve herd immunity for measles." I hate that expression!
I hasten to add that I definitely support the pro-vaccination lobby, at least for the very serious diseases and where the vaccines are clearly effective. And I would include measles (at least the red measles, or rougeola) as a serious disease - I was very sick with it as a child, before the vaccine was developed.
Pro-vaxers are amongst the first to admit that you're not likely to get the vaccine-hesitant folks on side by bombarding them with all kinds of facts and statistics. A few key facts or statistics, maybe. But you're aiming at their hearts more than their heads, the fact that they love their children and want what's best for them.
"Herd immunity" does indeed pack an emotional punch - but I don't think it's the one we want. In effect, we're likening people's children to cattle! And while I don't want to minimize the genuine affection that farmers may have for their livestock (maybe even those that are ultimately destined for the dinner table), it's hardly the same thing as the relationship between human parents and their children. It conjures up images of all your children being killed off if one of them comes down with foot-and-mouth, brucellosis or BSE, just as a herd of cattle might all be slaughtered if one cow has (or even is merely suspected of having) one of those diseases! Are scare tactics going to sway people in favour of immunization or just drive them underground to avoid the vaccination police? Most likely the latter, I think.
It would be better to use a phrase like "group immunity", "crowd immunity", "population immunity" or even the cornily poetic "community immunity". Or we could say something like "general immunity" or "mass immunity". If we want to indulge in a little hyperbole to put an even more positive spin on things, we might even dare to say "universal immunity".
But "herd immunity" is definitely one of those phrases that deserves to be sent straight to the slaughterhouse!
