(no subject)

[figment]

Every morning I get a google news alert for the word "torture". For work - you know, I tweet (@healtorture) and send relevant news stories out to people who are in the field of treating survivors of torture.

This isn't exactly cheerful stuff, of course. But ever since I started working at CVT, I've found myself more aware of how people use the word "torture" - and misuse it. Here's how the subjects of news stories break down:



The majority of cases are what I'm looking for, what I'm referring to as "political torture" - perpetrated by the government, police, or other official authority. And about another quarter of the stories are about what I'm going to call "criminal torture", which is probably not the best word for it, but by which I mean acts perpetrated by individuals - in this case, all of whom are now facing trial for their actions.

But the number of sports and entertainment stories I find using the word seems kind of weird.
*The Giants are what the vast majority of sports "torture" stories are about.
Actors and others essentially complain about doing their jobs by calling what they go through torture.
** And then the stories that I have classified as "irritants" - which include things like college applications, garage noises, living with your ex, and creating a small business plan. Really??
I know I'm a pedant, but whenever those news stories come up in my feed, I feel a bit like Inigo Montoya: "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."


In other pedantic work-related news, I keep having to correct the use of the word "principle" vs "principal" throughout this e-learning thing I'm working on. At least my predecessor was consistently wrong...

Comments

[minnehaha]

I have a similar, though not professional, distaste for the misuse of "addiction."

K.

[figment]

I can see that. I know there are lots of words that are misused, and we focus on different ones for our own reasons... but this just begged for a chart.

[http://www.google.com/profiles/whitefox77#]

"Actors and others essentially complain about doing their jobs by calling what they go through torture"
I realize this isn't what you meant, but as I read that I had a flash to J.I. Jane with Demi Moore going through the water board.

It's all a matter of perspective. In your line of work the word "torture" is used much more seriously. However, it's a word that has a very vague definition, and ends up meaning different things to different people.

"principle" vs "principal": I didn't even realize it had two spellings...

[figment]

On the one hand, I know that words are used for various things and common usage is not always clear on what they mean. And yes, people do use the word to mean a variety of things. On the other hand, I think this highlights the fact that people overuse extreme words, which reduces their effectiveness. I feel like it would be useful for people to use words which describe the intermediate stages of feelings; it makes language clearer to do so.

It might also show that those in the entertainment biz have an inflated opinion of their own drama, so rather than say that something was 'hard' they'll call it 'torture', and I suppose conversely they might call something oh, I don't know, 'amazing' rather than 'pleasant'.

The spellings of principle and principal distinguish the meanings, which may be slightly complex but are distinct.
Principle:
1 - a fundamental truth, law, rule, or fact of nature
2 - primary or original
3 - underlying
Principal:
1 - main, most important
2 - someone who is the head of something (including but not limited to schools)
3 - capital on which interest may be earned

Warning - Word geek

[lollygirlie1]

The principal's principle principal principal was invested with companies that didn't adhere to his principal principles.

Muahahahahha.

*hides*