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more on "Whistleblower" is not a mere neologism
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 10:34:46 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: "Rabkin, Eric" <esrabkin () umich edu> Date: May 15, 2006 10:32:20 AM EDT To: dave () farber net Subject: RE: [IP] more on "Whistleblower" is not a mere neologism Dave, words clearly matter: "traitor," "patriot," "whistleblower." Minor in the current instance but major in general is attention the full sense and history of a word:
Neologisms are objectionable when they simply express a concept more poorly than a pre-existing word -- "detrain" is thus a poor substitute for "disembark."
Not so. "Disembark" means "undo embarcation" and "embarcation" means "enter a boat [bark]," as in San Francisco's famous Embarcadero (an otherwise rare word in English, although not rare in Spanish, for wharf). "Detrain" is as specific today as "disembark" once was, before there were trains or planes from which to "disembark." (See how odd that word now sounds?) Three points, then. First, technological change fosters linguistic change. It is silly to "dial" a telephone these days, yet we still do, and will until we all eventually choose among "touch," "push," "press," or some other option. ("Press" seems to me in the lead, but if "button" technology moves quickly toward "touch screens," "touch" is likely to win.) We now speak of "analog watches" where once we spoke simply of "watches" only because the invention of "digital watches" prompted that disambiguating coinage by analogy. Second, the range of a word and its history represent enormous cultural riches we all potentially share. "Whistleblower" overlaps in denotation with, say, "muckracker" and "witness." But "whistleblower," with its connotation of stopping crime or other improper activity and especially in large organizations, carries with it the policeman's whistle once often used to halt supposed miscreants and the factory whistle once often used to end--and begin anew--work shifts. The policeman has a duty to blow the whistle; the worker the inside knowledge willy nilly. The "muckraker" on the other hand comes unbidden from outside (we usually associate this word with journalists) and the "witness" suggests no personal involvement in the acts. "Whistleblower" is a rich word. One may prefer others in this instance, but that preference should be a matter of one's understanding of the action, not of the word itself. Third, the current debate, not about "disembark" versus "detrain" but about "traitor," "patriot," and "whistleblower" underscores the place of language as a crucial tool of sociality. The current political issue arises from actions that I find literally egregious. (These spying individuals have surreptitiously and philosophically separated themselves from the generality [flock, Latin grex] of Americans.) But the heat of concern for this political issue should not move us to ignore all the other words we use. Getting our words right both guides politics and enables poetry. Protecting our language, as Orwell understood, protects us. I'm glad IPers care. Eric ------------------------------------------------- Eric S. Rabkin 734-764-2553 (Office) Dept of English 734-764-6330 (Dept) Univ of Michigan 734-763-3128 (Fax) Ann Arbor MI 48109-1003 esrabkin () umich edu http://www-personal.umich.edu/~esrabkin/
-----Original Message----- From: David Farber [mailto:dave () farber net] Sent: Sunday, May 14, 2006 17:15 To: ip () v2 listbox com Subject: [IP] more on "Whistleblower" is not a mere neologism Begin forwarded message: From: Paul Saffo <paul () saffo com> Date: May 14, 2006 5:10:24 PM EDT To: dave () farber net Subject: "Whistleblower" is not a mere neologism Actually, Whistleblower is hardly a neologism. According to wordorigins.org and several other sources, the word was first used back in 1970, and the phrase "blow the whistle" dates to 1934. Neologisms are objectionable when they simply express a concept more poorly than a pre-existing word -- "detrain" is thus a poor substitute for "disembark." But "whistleblower" neatly captures a concept for which there was no prior word. Your dislike of the word in this instance only confirms that "whistleblower" is no mere neologism, but a euphonious and descriptive word with the power to persuade. Your argument would be clearer if you restated it as follows: "Mr. Klein is not a whistleblower, but a traitor." -p On May 14, at , David Farber wrote:Begin forwarded message: From: Joe Pistritto <jcp () jcphome com> Date: May 14, 2006 4:22:32 PM EDT To: dave () farber net, EEkid () aol com Subject: RE: [IP] Whistleblower outs NSA's secret spy room at AT&T You know, its just deplorable how people are inventing newwords whereold ones are perfectly usable. You know, like "detrain"and "deplane"instead of "disembark". Its really too bad we don't have anequivalent ofthe French Academy to regulate the use of English the way they do in French. In this case, the word you are looking for isn't"whistleblower", butrather "traitor". Best regards, -jcp- -----Original Message----- From: David Farber [mailto:dave () farber net] Sent: Sunday, May 14, 2006 3:38 AM To: ip () v2 listbox com Subject: [IP] Whistleblower outs NSA's secret spy room at AT&T Begin forwarded message: From: EEkid () aol com Date: May 13, 2006 8:01:24 PM EDT To: dave () farber net Subject: Whistleblower outs NSA's secret spy room at AT&T Whistleblower outs NSA's secret spy room at AT&T April 08, 2006 Mark Klein, a retired AT&T communications technician, saidthe companyshunted all Internet traffic--including traffic from peering links connecting to other Internet backbone providers-- tosemantic trafficanalyzers, installed in a secret room inside the AT&Tcentral officeon Folsom Street in San Francisco. Similar rooms were built in Seattle, San Jose, Los Angeles and San Diego. "Based on my understanding of the connections and equipmentat issue,it appears the NSA (National Security Agency) is capable ofconductingwhat amounts to vacuum-cleaner surveillance of all the datacrossingthe Internet," Klein said. "This potential spying appears to be applied wholesale to all sorts of Internet communicationsof countlesscitizens." In 2003, the National Security Agency set up a secret roominside thephone company's San Francisco office building that was notaccessibleto AT&T technicians, Klein said. The former employee's statement, as well as severaldocuments saved byhim after he left the company in 2004, shows further evidence of domestic spying initiatives by the federal government. Klein's statement is being incorporated into a class actionfiled inSan Francisco federal court, in which lawyers with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins, and Traber & Voorhees in Pasadena claim that AT&Tillegallyallowed the NSA taps. "Despite what we are hearing, and considering the publictrack recordof this administration, I simply do not believe theirclaims that theNSA's spying program is really limited to foreigncommunications or isotherwise consistent with the NSA's charter or with FISA[the ForeignIntelligence Surveillance Act]," Klein said. News that the NSA was working with major telecommunicationscompaniesfirst surfaced shortly before Christmas. The Bushadministration hasacknowledged the existence of a domestic spying program, but claims the executive order was limited to those individuals with known terrorist ties. The Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a class-action lawsuit against AT&T on January 31, 2006, accusing the telecom giant of violating the law and the privacy of its customers by collaborating with the National Security Agency in its massive program to wiretap and data-mine Americans' communications. "The evidence that we are filing supports our claim that AT&T is diverting Internet traffic into the hands of the NSA wholesale, in violation of federal wiretapping laws and the FourthAmendment," EFFStaff Attorney Kevin Bankston said in a statement. ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as jcp () jcphome com To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting- people/ ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as paul () saffo com To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting- people/------------------------------------- You are subscribed as esrabkin () umich edu To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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