BS: Unfortunate Political Phrases

Subject: BS: Unfortunate Political Phrases
From: Ebbie
Date: 05 Mar 05 - 05:30 PM

This statement seems very odd to me (What is he trying to get across to us? Isn't Rob Nichols native-born American?) :

"The uber purpose is to centralize and coordinate the administration's public affairs and communication activities," said chief Treasury spokesman Rob Nichols. "Standing up this office demonstrates how important fixing Social Security is."

WASHINGTON - A new Social Security (news - web sites) war room inside the Treasury Department (news - web sites) is pumping out information to sell President Bush (news - web sites)'s plan, much like any political campaign might do. It's part of a coordinated effort by the Bush administration.

More about Social "Security"

Subject: RE: BS: Unfortunate Political Phrases
From: freda underhill
Date: 05 Mar 05 - 05:39 PM

Yeh, unforunate is the word. Politics seems to bring them out - a few years ago our conservative party here (strangely called the Liberals) started throwing around the word "incentivation" as their battle call.

unfortunately they have been so incentivated that we now have a $29 Billion deficit, the worst deficit in Australia's history

Subject: RE: BS: Unfortunate Political Phrases
From: Ebbie
Date: 05 Mar 05 - 05:58 PM

LOL Bush must have got incentivated too.

Subject: RE: BS: Unfortunate Political Phrases
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 05 Mar 05 - 06:21 PM

I think we just look for them harder from politicians, than others. Their statements get dissected looking for a grain of truth or some clear meaning, and often we only find that in the accidental phrases....

Subject: RE: BS: Unfortunate Political Phrases
From: Little Hawk
Date: 05 Mar 05 - 06:24 PM

Yes, more incentivativity is what we need around here. Lack of incentivativity can lead to procedural and disorientational stress issues and cause interdepartmental havoc in purposive goal-setting and maximizational iniatiatives.

Subject: RE: BS: Unfortunate Political Phrases
From: Peace
Date: 05 Mar 05 - 06:34 PM

Hey, the lexicon will GROW. This leads to

INCENTIVITUDINOUSNESS

"His/her incentivitudinousness was admirable."

Subject: RE: BS: Unfortunate Political Phrases
From: Ebbie
Date: 05 Mar 05 - 07:06 PM

Indeed!

Subject: RE: BS: Unfortunate Political Phrases
From: sixtieschick
Date: 05 Mar 05 - 09:44 PM

Well, he warned us, "Don't misunderestimate me."

Subject: RE: BS: Unfortunate Political Phrases
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 05 Mar 05 - 10:04 PM

What in the hell does "Standing up this office...." mean? It's not just unfortunate, it isn't even grammatical. Is there a missing preposition or something?

Subject: RE: BS: Unfortunate Political Phrases
From: Little Hawk
Date: 05 Mar 05 - 10:19 PM

It's obfuscatory pomposity, intended to impress, but not to inform.

Subject: RE: BS: Unfortunate Political Phrases
From: Ebbie
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 03:33 AM

You suppose? If English were Nichols' second, rather than native, language I could accept it- but nobody, certainly in America, says "standing up" an office. I should think he meant "setting up"   (Although 'uber' seems code in some way.)

I think our pompous, pretentious power gluttons are on the same language wave length as W.

Subject: RE: BS: Unfortunate Political Phrases
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 05:40 AM

Uber is Fascist Code... (originally German)

Subject: RE: BS: Unfortunate Political Phrases
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 06:38 AM

Uber is Fascist Code... (originally German)

You know better than that. Just saying German, therefore Fascist is a lazy and by now somewhat offensive display of bigotry. If it is a fascist code, then say so, and don't drag Germany in. If you have a point, make it without pointless asides. I'm sure do things that annoy people here sometimes, such as repeating a point, as you expand from a specific case to the general, that are not good, but bigotry is much worse

If you want to show the word origin , then do it properly:

uber- or Uber (germanic)- prefix denoting: an exceptional type, an archetypal example. On the model of Ubermensch.
The capitalised U should have umlauts, BTW.

Rant over.

Bunnahabhain

Subject: RE: BS: Unfortunate Political Phrases
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 07:26 AM

Weasel words, that's what they are.

One of our best sellers is Don Watson's book 'Weasel Words' about the abuse of English by writers & speakers & I just found his website - what a treasure it is.

weaselwords

where I found Quote of the Week

'The fence is described on a plan of Baxter as a "courtesy fence". I suggested that it was in fact an electric fence. "No," she insisted "It is not an electric fence. It is an energized fence." '
Deputy Secretary of the Australian Department of Immigration,

(Baxter Detention camp is the high security privately operated prison where 'queue jumping illegal immigrants' are kept)

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: Unfortunate Political Phrases
From: gnu
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 07:57 AM

Perhaps from the military, "Standing Orders" or "Standing Operations (Standops)", origially Brit I think, which are orders that are to be followed or implemented or repeated, etc, on a regular or constant basis. For instance, a standing order for an aircraft maintenance crew might be to refuel all aircraft immediately after landing.
"Standing up" an ofice in this context might be meant as formally recognizing its importance and ensuring its purpose and policies are adhered to on a countinuous basis.

Subject: RE: BS: Unfortunate Political Phrases
From: gnu
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 07:59 AM

Oops, "Standard Operations"... another cup of tea, perhaps.

Subject: RE: BS: Unfortunate Political Phrases
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 08:21 AM

Perhaps Robin should have said that "über" carries fascist connotations for many English speakers instead of that it's "fascist code". Most Americans' familiarity with the word is courtesy of Nietzsche's "Überman" concept which was perverted by the Nazi Party. It's often used in America by the left to refer to right-wingers in a derogatory fashion, ie referring to Dubya as "Überfuhrer Bush". It's odd that a representative of the Bush administration would use such a loaded term, but who ever said representatives of the Bush administration actually think before opening their mouths? Obviously Rob Nichols doesn't.

Subject: RE: BS: Unfortunate Political Phrases
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 04:27 PM

The infelicitous phrase, "standing up this office", I think merely means "setting up this office".

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Unfortunate Political Phrases
From: Ebbie
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 04:44 PM

Ebbie March 6 3:33 AM: "...but nobody, certainly in America, says "standing up" an office. I should think he meant "setting up" I agree, Dave O. But is that a mistake commonly made?

Subject: RE: BS: Unfortunate Political Phrases
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 05:23 PM

Yes, I think the speaker was either momentarily slipshod in his speech, or was trying to be creative, applying a fresh metaphor.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Unfortunate Political Phrases
From: Greg F.
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 05:36 PM

I believe he was trying to be a pompous idiot- and succeeded brilliantly.

As do the rest of the BuShite junta.

Subject: RE: BS: Unfortunate Political Phrases
From: Amos
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 05:38 PM

I have heard "standing up" applied to organizations, but only rarely. It is not a mistake, but a figure of speech that is pretty much obsolete.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Unfortunate Political Phrases
From: Azizi
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 07:21 PM

Hey, maybe that phrase 'standing up this office" is like being
"stood up" . "Stood up" is a perfectly acceptable Americanisn that means "standing around waiting in vain for some agreed upon thing to happen" like your date to show up like he or she said he or she would.

So by saying "Standing up this office demonstrates how important fixing Social Security is", this guy isn't being standoffish.
While he's not standing on his head, he IS signalling to those in the know [and that doesn't mean us] that this Bush administration might promise to do something to fix social security but REALLY has no intention of following through with that promise.

This makes perfect sense to me. And in taking all this heat for making that signal, what's-his-face is a stand up guy.

And, and as to that uber thing..well it beats the heck out of me what that means.

But I got yah back. And I'll stand up for your right to say it means what ever the heck any of you say it does, as long as you stand by me.

"It's me. It's me. It's me Oh Lord,
Standin in the need of prayer"
4 more years of this??! God help us!!

Azizi

Subject: RE: BS: Unfortunate Political Phrases
From: Tannywheeler
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 07:34 PM

In re: Little Hawk's first posting this thread -- Damn straight, fella. Can't have any of that stuff.

On another tack -- anyone who can lay out a line like that should be running for office. How far north do I have to move to be able to vote for you? Are you and Brucie "running mates"? Maybe assistant coordinator of intradepartmental affairs and deputy assistant coordinator....

"Maximizational initiatives" -- hot damn!!! "Interdepartmental havoc" -- I hate when that happens.       Tw

Subject: RE: BS: Unfortunate Political Phrases
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 08:35 PM

My comment was too terse.

Germanic Fascist as distinct from Italian Fascist.

After WWII, many of the upper level Nazis were in fact sheltered by the USA, and incorporated into top level political think tanks - hence the apparently amazing similarity of current US political thought compared with their original inspiration.

Subject: RE: BS: Unfortunate Political Phrases
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 07 Mar 05 - 06:37 AM

Sorry I jumped on that one so hard.

It slipped my mind that it was a post from a sensible person I was attacking. I re-read my rant now, and I'd forgotton how annoyed I'd been when I posted. Sorry

Subject: RE: BS: Unfortunate Political Phrases
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Mar 05 - 11:20 AM

American President.

Subject: RE: BS: Unfortunate Political Phrases
From: beadie
Date: 07 Mar 05 - 11:44 AM

Sandra in Sydney:

   I am offended. As a companion to members of the family, again I find the honorable species Mustelidae subjected to unwarranted ridicule and derision.

Ferrets, otters, fishers, sables, mink, martens, badgers and wolverines, as well as the species namesake, the weasel, are all gravely disparaged by comparison of their character to that of human lawyers, politicians, accountants (particularly, tax CPAs), used car salesmen, and the like. These animals, while having traits which we humans find curious or even, in some cases, objectionable, have done quite nicely throughout their history on this planet, and have, in at least one notable circumstance, been of remarkable value to our clan.

It is suggested that the ferret was originally domesticated by the ancient Egyptians as a guard for their grain stocks. As you may recall, the Pharaohs considered the common housecat to be a demi-god. They also had an economy that was based on grain harvested from the Nile delta. It is clear that you can't ask your local god to do servile work in controlling the rodent population that invades the granaries. So, . . . the Egyptians did the next best thing, they domesticated an animal exceptionally well-suited to keeping the mice under control, . . . . the ferret.

Aside from allowing one of the longest continuous forms of government in human history to rise and flourish, the weasel clan has been recognized and revered in other forums. Even among American institutions of higher learning, two members of the family are held in the hogest esteem. The University of Wisconsin holds dear to the Badger and the University of Michigan to the Wolverine.

In the future, I would ask for consideration of the fact that to compare a weasel (or any of its kin) to, for instance, a politician (of any stripe), is an insult to the weasel.

Subject: RE: BS: Unfortunate Political Phrases
From: beadie
Date: 07 Mar 05 - 01:39 PM

OOOOOPS.

Subject: RE: BS: Unfortunate Political Phrases
From: beadie
Date: 07 Mar 05 - 01:41 PM

The fat fingers got in the way of one another on the small keyboard.

"Hogest" should be "highest" in the first of my posts.

Subject: RE: BS: Unfortunate Political Phrases
From: Bev and Jerry
Date: 07 Mar 05 - 04:36 PM

We believe "standing up" is the opposite of "standing down". "Standing down" is a common expression in the U.S. military and other branches of the government and it means to cease operations either, temporarily or permenantly. For example, if there are multiple accidents in the military there will be a full or partial "stand down" to review safety procedures.

Having said that, we have never heard of anyone using the term "standing up" to mean beginning operations. It's kind of like saying, "We shut the system down for three days and then we shut it up".

Bev and Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Unfortunate Political Phrases
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 08 Mar 05 - 08:17 AM

I'm an innocent bystander, beadie, it was Theodore Roosevelt who invented the term.

Comparing mis-behaving humans to animals definitely insults the animal.

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: Unfortunate Political Phrases
From: beadie
Date: 08 Mar 05 - 08:35 PM

I would never presume to try to upstage the honorable TR.

I merely reiterate his truism and (perhaps) embellish it a little.

I am, after all, much closer to my weasel family companions than to most humans.

It nonetheless irritates me to see weasels thus disparaged.