Date:  Wed, 26 Oct 1994 13:34:48 -0400

From:  Tom McClive <tommcc[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]EMAIL.UNC.EDU>

Subject: Re: Is "conservative" a slander word?



On Tue, 25 Oct 1994, Bethany Dumas, UTK wrote:



> In response to my post about the use of "that word" in KNoxville, Roger

> Vanderveen asked whether I use it [the word "conservative"] "in general

> to slander conservatives." ?!? I find it astonishing that one might be

> taken to be "slandering" conservatives by calling them conservatives. Can

> one slander someone by calling by the label that rightfully belongs to

> them? Or has the word "conservative" become non-PC without my noticing that

> that has happened?



I am reminded of the 1988 American presidental campaign, when the George

Bush team tried, and succeed, to turn "liberal" into a tabboo word.

Micheal Dukakis was compelled to avoid its use and its label; in fact it

was a major news story the day that Dukakis finally decided to adopt it

and call himself a liberal. His attemps to detabboo it failed; it is of

course still being used now in this election season to bash the democrats.



To address an earlier post, I do believe that a single word can become a

euphonism. Once people agree on a context, almost any word or phrase

will do I remember a company I worked for that used the word

"opportunity" instead of the word "problem". This eventually carried

over to all forms of conversation and the word "opportunity" expanded and

became a joke.



    Tom McClive

    University of North Carolina

    tommcc[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]email.unc.edu