You are probably thinking to yourself “what is doublespeak?.” Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as “language used to deceive, usually through concealment or misrepresentation of the truth”. Doublespeak is basically a way of distorting words or a phrase to conceal the truth, but without directly lying. You will learn why some people will use this type of language.

There are four types of doublespeak: Euphemism, Gobbledygook, Jargon, and Inflated language. I’ll start with Euphemism, it is the best, and the only respectable type of doublespeak. Euphemism basically softens the truth to make it less offensive and more acceptable. One example of euphemism is saying “passed away” instead of  “died”. Someone could also say “chronologically advantaged” instead of “Old”. These are examples where doublespeak could be considered acceptable, but Euphemism is not always used in a good way. Here is another example that is a little deceptive: someone might say “vocational relocation” or “Career assignment and relocation” instead of “fired”.

The next type of doublespeak is Jargon. Jargon is basically using code words within a certain industry that people outside the industry would not comprehend. Politicians are notorious for using jargon when addressing the public. One may say “collateral damage” instead of “multiple fatalities.” they also might say “enhanced interrogation” instead of “torture”. Business owners could say “reducing costs” instead of “firing people and cutting pay.”

Another type of doublespeak is Gobbledygook. (Yes, that is a real word) Gobbledygook is a way of speaking that is so confusing that it is incomprehensible to anyone listening. Someone speaking in Gobbledygook will pair nonsense words with some factual information, but it will ultimately make what they are saying so confusing you can not understand it. According to “Yourdictionary.com,” an example of Gobbledygook would be, “When the party in the first part provides the aforementioned goods to the party in the second part, such party shall acknowledge receipt of said item once the party of the first part hereby warrants its condition as suitable for transfer and in light of exchange of consideration.”  When they could have just said, “I will sell you this item for X dollars.”

The last type of Doublespeak is Inflated language. Inflated language is a way of making certain things sound more important than they really are. An example of this would be calling garbage men “sanitation engineers” and calling a junkyard a “reutilization marketing yard”. 

Is doublespeak really that big of a problem though? In an episode on CSPAN,  William Lutz (American linguist and author of “Doublespeak”) was interviewed and asked some questions about it. He said, “Doublespeak poses a threat to the United States because it creates a buffer between what organizations are saying and what people are hearing… The housing bubble was exacerbated by the fact that people thought they understood the mortgages they were getting, only to find out that they were in over their heads.” 

As mentioned before, not all doublespeak is bad (like saying someone passed away instead of died), but it doesn’t mean it should be used all the time. One of the main problems with doublespeak is you can not stop people from abusing the language.  The best thing you can do is listen to what they are really saying and read between the lines. Just know if a politician is trying to pass a bill, and it is super confusing, it probably was not made that way by accident.