Vulgarisms

Vulgarisms are terms or phrases that may be often heard or seen but are incorrect.

Vulgarisms are said to be a predictable part of the vocabulary of illiterates.

Since vulgarisms tend to breed or spread confusion, we might expect them to be used by “socialists” and other criminals who would wage war against us.

Vulgarisms also clash with the powerful message expressed in this important proverb from ancient China:

“The beginning of wisdom is calling
things by their right names.”

So, keeping wisdom in mind, let’s examine a few of today’s vulgarisms.

hot temperature – Water and weather are sometimes hot but temperatures, because they are only abstract values and have no mass (and therefore cannot hold heat), are only relatively high or low or moderate. Temperatures are never hot, mild, or cold.

legal tender – All tenders are legal unless they are made for the commission of a crime. Printing the terms “legal tender” or “a legal tender” on a dollar bill may be construed as evidence of fraud. Why? Because the US Treasury Department lawyers in charge of that wording should know that any dollar bill may be used to compensate a criminal for committing a crime. How confused are the US Treasury lawyers? Please see Money, Chapter 7, Tender, page 31 et seq.

Nikolai Lenin – Mr. Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (sometimes seen as Nickolai Lenin or Nikolai Ulyanov), one-time “socialist” dictator of Russia, gave himself the nickname “Lenin” because he wanted the world’s press to consider him a strong leader. “Lenin” is the Russian word for lion.

Joseph Stalin –Mr. Iosef Besarionis dze Jughashvili (sometimes seen as Josif Dugashvili), one-time “socialist” dictator of Russia, gave himself the nickname “Stalin” because he wanted the world’s press to consider him a strong leader. “Stalin” is the Russian word for steel.

fast speed – A rocket or other thing may go fast or slowly but a speed, which is an abstract (numeric) value, has no motion. A speed of 186,000 miles per second may be called a high speed but the value “186,000 miles per second” is not moving. Speeds may be high or low but they are never fast or slow.

expensive price – An expensive item may cost a lot but the price itself is not expensive. Prices may be high or low (or something else) but they are not bought or sold. Only an item or service is expensive.

priority mail – It may be correct to ask if the priority for doing a task is high or low but do we ever ask if the priority is priority?

paper money – Since about 465 BC, the world’s money has been coins of mostly gold, and coins of mostly silver, and occasionally, coins of mostly copper. The world’s legitimate money substitutes have been redeemable paper currencies, and redeemable industrial-metal minor coins, and redeemable industrial-metal tokens. Today’s irredeemable paper currencies and irredeemable major and minor coins and irredeemable tokens – are illegitimate money substitutes, and may be properly called credit tokens. There can be no “paper money” any more than there can be “paper water” or “paper air.” Today’s non-redeemable currency – paper and metal – is illegitimate and may also be properly called fiat currency. The term “paper money” may be one of the world’s most dangerous vulgarisms. (Please see also Money, page 7, Chapter 2, Money.)

Indeed, the world’s most dangerous vulgarism is now believed to be using the word money as a synonym for the word currency.

blue cheese – The popular French food item, bleu cheese, is supposedly what today may be widely mislabeled “blue” cheese.

illegal immigration – Immigration is the name for the legal steps a person born in one country must take to become a citizen of another country. There are legal aliens and there are illegal aliens but simple logic tells us there is no such thing as “illegal immigration.”

civil rights – We have all of our rights when we are born. We give up a few of these rights – strictly conditionally – when we live in a country governed by law, and where we have a contract with our neighbors. In the USA, that contract is the US Constitution. We, via our representatives, entered that contract. Through that contract we hire certain persons to guard our liberties and property. We give those persons, our agents, certain powers to act on our behalf. However, anything those persons may do outside of that contract may be “null and void.” Why? Because a basic element of contract law says: “Unauthorized acts of an agent are not binding upon the principal.” We are principals. A government, meaning our civil authorities, may confer certain limited privileges on some persons but a privilege – which means private law – is not a right. The term “civil rights” is a vulgarism.

co-conspirator – In the word conspirator, the “con” means with, and the “spire” means to breathe with and share the same space with, meaning to work together. Thus we see that “conspirator” needs no “co-” in front of it.

American democracy – The word “America,” in 1776 and for many years before and after, referred correctly to the continent called America, meaning the land mass between southernmost Chile and northernmost Canada. Since the “New World’s” colonies were the only recognized civilized communities in the continent named America, the word “America” sometimes also meant the new colonies. Even today, the United States of America is well established as a legal entity under that name yet the country is still referred to colloquially, but not formally, as just “America.” Also, the United States is a Constitutional republic, not a democracy. The term “American democracy” may be a gross vulgarism.

gay marriage – “Gay” is a current “socialist” euphemism for sexual pervert. For millennia, marriage has been a traditional-values (cultural, moral, common-sense, and lawful) institution, a union “until death” of one man and one woman – to support and defend the welfare of the offspring of that union. Thus, simple common sense says that a contract or agreement between two or more men or two or more women is not (and cannot be) a marriage.

Here are a few other current vulgarisms. Can you see their flaws?

• Area road
• Black box
• Completely destroyed
• Gun control
• Morning hours
• Rain is falling
• (the) reason why
• Surface street

P.S. If you hear someone say, “Well, words change their meaning over time,” in rare cases that may be true, but only in informal communications, such as jargon, slang, and colloquialisms. “Out of sight” or “outré” (French) now may be expressed by “In” or “with it.” Or, a few years ago, “cool” was where the kids wanted to be, but now “hot” connotes much the same thing. These and other informal terms may have different definitions, depending on the year and the age-group using them. However, can you think of a formal term, particularly a professional term (such as in law, medicine, science, economics, etc.) whose definition has changed?

The statement, “Words change their meanings over time,” sounds good when you say it fast but it may be just an affectation. Some of our neighbors may say it to try to impress us with their intellect. It may also be a dandy ploy for those who would commit theft by fraud.

Amazingly, most college graduates today can echo this affectation but few seem even dimly aware of the dangers posed by vulgarisms.

This affectation, however, may be an especially valuable tool for those who would create vulgarisms to confuse and manipulate potential victims – especially voters.