Newspeak or More Dumbing Down of our Language

[k4kyv]

National Public Radio now says it wants to be known simply as NPR. The organization has quietly changed its name to its familiar initials. Much like the corporate names KFC, AARP, BP, AAA and AT&T, the initials now stand for the initials. "NPR is more modern, streamlined," says Vivian Schiller, NPR's chief executive. She points to other "re-brandings" by media organizations, such as Cable News Network, which has been plain old CNN for years.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/07/AR2010070704578.html

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Or NBC, etc. When is the last time you heard, "This is the Columbia Broadcasting System"?  I think their official name is CBS Broadcasting Incorporated.

[ke7trp]

I thought most of that was really done to get out of some financial mess.  KFC said it was to get the "fried" out of the name. But in reality, The company was about done and the new name was a way to get out of debt.

C

[KB2WIG]

 "  Duckspeak is a Newspeak term meaning literally to quack like a duck or to speak without thinking  "



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Newspeak_words


klc

[Pete, WA2CWA]

MOTD
Why write complete words  
You need to try texting.

[Ed/KB1HYS]

One way my kids earn my Ire is to use texting anacronyms in normal speach.  This is a certain way to get a lecture about not sounding like an idiot when you speak.  I also point out that telegraphers and radio operators were/have been doing that same thing for over a century now, so it's not so new.  (Tnx fer QSO OM es CUL 73 de KB1HYS K) However MOST of us don't use it in everyday speach, except for that HI HI group...

[WA3VJB]

Name changes to re-image a company can only go so far.  

RJR Nabisco came about during the tobacco controversy of the 1980s, when RJ Reynolds had acquired a food asset and decided their emphasis should be on that instead of cigarettes.  The name caught on, regardless of whether it changed how the corporation was viewed.

On the other hand, few media outlets and the general public use "Beyond Petroleum,"  despite the fact it has been BP's official branding for about ten years now.

And the other day I saw a story where BWI airport, re-named from the old Friendship Airport to try and position itself as Baltimore-WASHINGTON International airport, still draws only 25% of its passenger base from the DC-area.

Among my favorite holdovers are International Business Machines and National Cash Register, and when we were on dialup I always said our internet service was coming from American Telephone & Telegraph, huh-HA !

Oh, and don't call it a Chevy, either.

[W2PFY]

Why write complete words  Huh
You need to try texting

I get this when I go to the site suggested Pete. I use a program call WOT for Firefox and IE. Keeps me out of bad sites.

[wb1aij]

[ "NPR is more modern, streamlined," says Vivian Schiller, NPR's chief executive. She points to other "re-brandings" by media organizations, such as Cable News Network, which has been plain old CNN for years.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/07/AR2010070704578.html


[/quote] Did you ever see a photo of Vivian Schiller? She looks like Mrs. Doubtfire. Doesn't mean anything; just an observation.

[k4kyv]

RJR Nabisco came about during the tobacco controversy of the 1980s, when RJ Reynolds had acquired a food asset and decided their emphasis should be on that instead of cigarettes.

The name Nabisco used to be National Biscuit Company.  Interestingly, the word "biscuit" does not really mean the mushy non-yeast bread often served with sausage and gravy at breakfast.  The actual meaning of the term is hard crispy breads like saltines, which were the National Biscuit Company's original product.  The word comes from the French bis (once-again) and cuit (cooked), meaning "twice cooked". The second cooking is what produces the hard crispy consistency, as a second chemical reaction kicks in.  This is the same effect that makes toasted bread crispy at the surface. The Italian word is biscotti.

Other examples brand names shedding any actual meaning include Sonoco, which used to be Sunray Oil Company, A&P, which used to be The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, Woolco, which used to be Woolworth's and AAA, which used to be American Automobile Association.  I believe AARP may now just be AARP, not an abbreviation for American Association of Retired Persons, but I could be wrong on that.

Perhaps one could say that this phenomenon is fitting for corporate brand names.  In French and Italian, the suffix equivalent to the English "Inc", is S.A. (société anonyme), which very aptly describes the concept of the corporation.  It literally means "anonymous society", society in the sense of an association or enterprise. Corporations are now legally defined as anonymous persons, and are becoming less and less product-specific, hence names with no actual meaning.

[N8UH]

It's even worse when a company dumbs down it's acronym...

http://www.tvweek.com/news/2009/03/sci_fi_channel_aims_to_shed_ge.php

I'm so glad I got rid of cable over a decade ago. 

[K5UJ]

Yep, been cable-free here for about 10 years.  Don't miss it at all.

I had been noticing that the car guys sign off on Saturday with This is NPR and leave off the National Public Radio part.  Now I know why.

I had been puzzled by BWI airport.   I figured it was British West Indies but that didn't fit the context.   I'm at the point in life where these things are all background noise that I question for about two seconds before I move on to things that matter.

I had to wait at a stop sign in front of Lowe's yesterday evening while a cronologically adult male wandered across the drive way completely absorbed in poking keys on some hand-held gadget and not paying any attention to where he was and where he was going.   Just like some 10 year old kid with a new toy.   I wanted to tell him his daddy said he has to wait until he is in the store before he plays with his new toy.

A front page story in yesterday's New York Times said college kids now have no ability to distingush between plagarism and their own original words.  They think it is perfectly okay to cut and paste something off the internet word for word into something they are writing and use it.   They don't even realize there is something wrong with that.   To them, all internet content is this big free resource to use as they please.

[Ed KB1HVS]

QSL  QSO? HI HI FB OM.

[WB4AIO]

'National Public Radio now says it wants to be known simply as NPR. The organization has quietly changed its name to its familiar initials. Much like the corporate names KFC, AARP, BP, AAA and AT&T, the initials now stand for the initials. "NPR is more modern, streamlined," says Vivian Schiller, NPR's chief executive.'

Streamlined? Modern? How about faceless, meaningless?

An acquaintance of mine who built broadcast accessories in the 70s and 80s took advantage of just such a rebranding.

When the Radio Corporation of America, during the first part of its abrupt suicide and conversion into a low-status plastic badge on the worst sort of Asian electronics, abandoned their name and became just "RCA," he was able to grab the trademark and rename his company "The Radio Corporation of America."

So, in about 1983, WEAM (where I was the chief engineer) purchased from him a "Radio Corporation of America" dummy load for our 1972-vintage RCA BTA-10U2 transmitter.

That transmitter was interesting, by the way. With a modification kit from the factory, it was type-accepted for use at our 5 kW station, even though it was a 10 kW transmitter. It could produce considerably in excess of 190% modulation.


With all good wishes,


Kevin, WB4AIO.

[KB2WIG]

QSL  QSO? HI HI FB OM

VFB OT, ur 5X9,  ge, gl  ss, cul om, GB MG,  qrZ  

[Bill, KD0HG]

Several importers of audio and other tubes have bought the names of legendary manufacturers, Mullard, Tung-Sol, Taylor. The "Tung-Sol" 6650s being sold on Ebay all seem to be made in 3rd world countries. Very annoying. Very easy to misrepresent. You now see Tung-Sol 'coke bottle' 6650s stamped, "Made in ______".  Problem is, they ain't Tung-Sols.

[k4kyv]

Brand names have become largely meaningless.  Some generic manufacturer in Asia makes the same product for several major brand names, with slightly different aesthetic features, and the companies put their own logo on them.  I found this out a couple of years ago when our reliable old Kitchenaid dishwasher finally crapped out after 20 years, and key replacement parts had been discontinued.  We went to find a new one, hopefully of  comparable quality to the old one, but every one, by every manufacturer including Kitchenaid, in USA and in Europe, was of the same crappy, flimsy design.  Even the mould marks on some of the plastic parts were identical.  So we finally settled on a medium grade one from Sears & Roebuck that actually cost less than our original one in terms of the buying power of inflated dollarettes, with hopes that it will last at least 5 years.

[Opcom]

The silly thing regarding textspeak is that the textheads will come to a forum and ask a technical question, and use the abbreviated acronyms and words and punctualtionless paragraphs. This gives an unprofessional impression.

The first thing it does is trivialize the importance of the request because it was not important enough to be written in standard, and secondly it negatively impacts respect, if any, the person might gain from asking an otherwise competent question.

Then there are old farts who probably know the magic answers but won't try to read gibberish. Why should they have to work at reading it? It is polite to write so that as many people as possible can read your writing. (Yes I am guilty of some writing sins, and I apologize for using big words and old words but at least I'm not a hypocrite.)

[W3LSN]

Woolco, which used to be Woolworth's 

Actually F.W. Woolworth got completely out of retail. It's last remnants were sold off and morphed in Foot Locker.

73, Jim
WA2AJM/3

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Remember brand names didn't exist before the industrial revolution. Change happens.

[Opcom]

The industrial revolution is still going on. It just looks different.

[Ed/KB1HYS]

The silly thing regarding textspeak is that the textheads will come to a forum and ask a technical question, and use the abbreviated acronyms and words and punctualtionless paragraphs. This gives an unprofessional impression.

The first thing it does is trivialize the importance of the request because it was not important enough to be written in standard, and secondly it negatively impacts respect, if any, the person might gain from asking an otherwise competent question.

Then there are old farts who probably know the magic answers but won't try to read gibberish. Why should they have to work at reading it? It is polite to write so that as many people as possible can read your writing. (Yes I am guilty of some writing sins, and I apologize for using big words and old words but at least I'm not a hypocrite.)

So true.  The same effect happens with the spoken word.  Even highly intelligent people come off as idiots if they can't express their ideas clearly.  Things like slang, foul language, and certain self-imposed physical deformaties (tounge rings and laberttes make you sound like you have a mouth full of... something) all conspire to make a person sound like less than they are.

So much for putting the best foot forward...

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Naw, it's long over, about right after WWII. We're in the middle of the computer revolution.

The industrial revolution is still going on. It just looks different.

[w3jn]

Get...off...my....LAWN!!!

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NelBNtNm8l0