The S-Word

Bad Language

What is bad language? Swear words don't usually offend me. Appropriately used, they can add power and emphasis like nothing else.

To me, bad language is communication without meaning. Time is precious, and communication is already difficult. Why waste people's time without communicating anything meaningful?

And what's worse than communicating nothing meaningful? Pretending that you're going to communicate. As a listener, I may sit for minutes of my time before realizing that the speaker (or the writer) is in fact speaking so generally as to be completely meaningless. And meaningless communication is a waste of time.

Fortunately, God has created a word to instantly flag when an English speaker is communicating nothing. When you hear the word, that's a sign that you should spend your time doing something more valuable than listening to vague and meaningless generalities.

So what is the special s-word?

Society

Yes, the s-word is "society." Once a speaker starts using that word, you can be pretty sure that they are speaking complete nonsense. They may think they have a point, but they are probably just rattling off meaningless generalities that are at best unproven and at worst only play to stereotypes or prejudice.

The problem is that people use the word "society" without defining what it means. "Society" is a horrendously vague term.

Consider the question: "What is the chief problem with our society today?"

What does that mean? At least the question scopes it somewhat (it's "our" society, and we're looking at it "today"). But what does "society" refer to? Is it our country? A subculture within the country? A culture that spans countries? Humankind as a whole? Most users of the term don't bother definining that.

The Wiki entry for 'society' gets it mostly right. But even that entry points out that "society" is a vague term, covering at times "a particular people, or a nation state, or a broader cultural group."

In case you were wondering about the answer to my question, here are some Google results for 'problem with our society today' . Take the time to flip through just a few pages of search results. Most authors don't bother to define what "society" is, or how they mean to use the term. Even better, none of them agree on what the problem with "society" is.

Some authors use "society" as a codeword to represent a particular subculture whose interests they want to promote at the expense of others. Most people use "society" to mean "my country", but they often also imply a particular cultural heritage, and a country is geographic territory and the laws that govern it, which cuts across any and all cultures in the country.

In short, it is either a specific codeword with sinister overtones, or a term so vague as to render the speaker's point unprovable.

Parting Thoughts

Anyway, pay attention to the s-word when you see it used in print or in speech. Keep a mental tally of how often the user of the term actually defines what it means, and if they are saying anything specific enough to be meaningful.

I'm guessing that if you do this, you will cringe as much as I do when I hear the word "society".

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