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eagan wins critical award
r ‘doublespeak’ fact errors
THE BATTALION
THURSDAY, JUNE 4 1981
Postal service claims ‘dog day’
1 to find«!
properly
lilt towoii
treated
uces an tsj
most peopt
[United Press International
NTON, N.J. — There is
|oup that has no doubt Presi-
,eagan is the most fit candi-
ir 1984.
s National Committee on
blespeak awarded Reagan its
'ppliedtof: ual Doublespeak Award “for
lost blatant and frequent use
mjblespeak. The word comes
n combining “doublethink
Jnewspeak,” two terms in
Orwell’s book “1984.”
ensive/ yDr. William Lutz, head of the
pniittee and chairman of the
h Department at Rutgers
[rsity in New Brunswick,
he award is a tongue-in-
way to accomplish a serious
se .
“We’re not just concerned ab-
gobbledygook language,” says
What worries us is the lan-
, H c of power, language used by
i agiermrE j ans an( j i H ireaucrats that is
iged thcj{li*|L a teiy deceptive and eoritra-
ig with the 1J r '
dictory. They’ve become very
sophisticated.”
Of the award to Reagan, Lutz
said, “We decided he deserved
the award because of his persis
tent, conscious misuse of facts,”
says Lutz.
He gave these examples:
— During the campaign,
Reagan would tell his audience of
the day he charged that the coun
try was in a depression. President
Carter, according to Reagan, the
same day called a press conference
to say that Reagan was wrong, the
country was actually in a reces
sion.
“If the president wants a defini
tion, I’ve got one. Recession is
when your next-door neighbor
loses his job, depression is when
you lose yours, and recovery is
when Jimmy Carter loses his.”
Lynn Nfoziger, the White
House political advisor, re
sponded for the Reagan camp
ig press sec
has comeastl
inethingfral
llg ()Ut,”$]J
when it came out that Carter had
done no such thing.
“I think it was Mondale who
said that, and he didn’t say it the
same day. I think it was the day
after. But that’s good enough for
us.”
—In a Des Moines campaign
speech, Reagan said General
Motors employed 23,300 workers
to comply with government
paperwork. General Motors said
4,900 people did all its paperwork.
A Reagan aide said the candidate
had read it in Reader’s Digest.
—Oft-quoted was Reagan’s re
minder that as governor of Califor
nia, he cut taxes by $5.7 billion.
Lutz says. Reagan never added
he had also increased state taxes
by an additional $21 billion.
Lutz lists as some of his favorite
examples of doublespeak: “com
bat emplacement’ evacuator,” a
U. S. Army term for “shovel;” “ex
perienced car,” a term used by a
usedcar dealer; “vertical transpor
tation corps,” a Pennsylvania hos
pital’s term for elevator operators,
and “genuine imitation leather”
advertisements.
But Lutz says the real concern
of the committee, which is part of
the National English Teachers
Association, is stylized political
rhetoric he calls “the misuse of
language — using it not as a tool to
communicate but to manipulate
people — or to state something
negative in such posititve terms
that it is no longer negative. ”
As editor of the Doublespeak
Quarterly, Lutz can cite countless
examples. President Carter’s de
finition of the disastrous Iranian
invasion as “an incomplete suc
cess” he terms “classic doubles
peak.”
Winning another award was the
Defense Department’s funding
request for a “radiation enhance
ment device. ” Congress discussed
appropriating money for the de
vice until a Washington Post re
porter asked what it was. It was
the neutron warhead.
United Press International
CINCINNATI — The Postal
Service, remembering what
H erodotus forgot, designated
Wednesday “Dog Awareness
Day.”
The idea was to protect mail
carriers from dogs, which appa
rently are much more of a problem
today than 2,500 years ago when
Greek historian Herodotus re
portedly wrote these famous lines:
“Neither snow, nor rain, nor
heat, nor gloom of night stays
these couriers from the swift com
pletion of their appointed
rounds.”
Caton said more than 1,800
postal employees in his 13-state
central region were injured by
dogs last year and noted letter car
riers are instructed not to risk in
jury when threatened by dogs.
“Carriers have the option of
curtailing delivery that day in an
area where threatened,” he said.
“People who don’t control their
dogs won’t get their mail deli
vered. We hope this Dog Aware
ness Day’ will make people leash
their dogs before the carrier
comes.”
Caton quickly tires of cartoons
and supposedly funny stories ab
out mail carriers and dogs.
“I point out to people the real
things I’ve seen dogs do to carriers
— like take a giant bite out of the
iny disc may make j
cords obsolete
s willingtoa
tide thatcb
raomicthmlfl United Press International
/olves snkJfffiCAGQ — A tiny disc that transmits musical information using
uter language and a laser beam may make the long-playing
d as obsolete as a windup phonograph.
be disc, less than 5 inches in diameter, can hold up to twice the
information and is considerably more durable than the 33-
12-inch record because it does not rely on grooves to transmit
top Democri|
, but
eady toacctjl
at cut in tail
0 percentnjB) Ur major electronics firms — Sony, Philips, Sanyo and Marantz
years.
1
ligh, “total la
1 be up lira
/ level of a a
artment said |
fattened by j
late Maym|
inds higher!!
• most prodoc
clow this y«|
;luction,”(W
tion, meanui
it above thes|
ear ago.
icers are I
mnd for brol!
unomists pra
d producers!
even later ial!
and
y in a depress
artment sail
about 14 cei
depres
it producers;
4 cents a
•displayed variations of the “Compact Disc this week at the Con-
.t Electronics Show.
blliain E. Baker, vice president of corporate communications for
ie jSony Corp., said the disadvantage of normal vinyl records is
Jlcal information is stamped into grooves, which collect dust and
Igerprints that cause a record plaver’s stylus to pick up unwanted
Ids.
} ust and fingerprints have no effect on this disc because it has no
Ives,” he said. “It uses a binary computer language” that is trans-
I by a laser beam.
pe disc will sell for about the same price as a normal long-play
The player will cost about the same as a premium record
|table, or about $800, Baker said. The disc digitally encodes sound
form of microscopic pits and flat areas along a 2 , /2-mile track,
is sealed with a transparent plastic that protects against dirt,
[dies and fingerprints.
laser beam translates the microscopic pits into “blips” that are
:rstood by conventional amplifying systems. And because the
beam does not touch the disc itself, the disc will last longer,
[lenn Estersohn, a Sony advertising manager, said the disc pro-
an additional 25 decibels of sound over conventional recording
[ems, has a wider frequency response and has less than 0.05 percent
artion.
n audio engineer would run over his grandmother for a chance to
o extra decibels, ” he said. “Just imagine 12.5 dead grandmothers
this disc.”
aker was more genteel.
his technology eliminates the distance from the live performance
[the studio sound to the sound reproduced in the home stereo unit, ”
laid. “It is as close to you being there as possible.
JAiid its potential applications are unlimited: You can put a player in
|r car, because both the disc and player are rugged enough, or it is
“ti conceivable to have a portable player,” Baker said,
be disc, developed by N. V. Philips of Holland, will hit the market
982 in Japan and Europe and make its way to the United States by
Baker said.
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Latest Fashion
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MEN’S SHIRTS
irn
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Nylon Mesh
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SALE PRICES FRI.
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5PALDMI
upper part of a carrier’s leg that
required 20 stitches. Taking
rabies shots isn’t funny.”
A dog repellent spray that many
carriers tote along does not always
work.
“On a windy day it often doesn’t
spray right at the dog,” noted
Caton. “But the big problem is
many times the carrier doesn’t see
the dog that attacks him. It comes
up quickly from behind. ”
Even worse than a loose, snarl
ing dog in an individual’s yard is a
pack of dogs roaming loose in a
neighborhood.
“A pack might keep mail from
being delivered to an area several
blocks in size,” said Caton.
THURSDAY IS |
LADIES |
NIGHT 1
NEVER A COVER CHARGE M
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DnnUs
V2
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EVERY RUNNING, JOGGING,
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Friday & Saturday June 5-6
DOORS OPEN 9 A.M.
items subject to prior sale.
Sizes and quantities
Limited on some shoes.
Shoes By
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Pony - Converse
Spotbilt
NO RAIN CHECKS
Jogging
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Shorts
Adults Sizes — Assorted Colors
X-small, small, large
and extra large S^SO
Poly Terry Cloth
Reg. $10.00 5.00
Broderick (Lined or unlined)
Reg. 6.70 to9.99 3Q% OFF
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/
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