You Don't Say

Communications professor Nancy Snow deconstructs GOP pollster Frank Luntz's memo titled "The 14 Words Never to Use." Luntz writes, "Effectively communicating the New American Lexicon requires you to STOP saying words and phrases that undermine your ability to educate the American people." Included on the blacklist are "privatization" ("it evokes images of fat cats on Wall Street picking our pockets," explains Snow), "global economy / globalization / capitalism" (these words remind us "of a world of winners and losers," writes Snow), and "outsourcing." Instead of discussing "outsourcing," suggests Luntz, "we should talk about the 'root cause' ... 'over-taxation, over-regulation, too much litigation, and not enough innovation or quality education.' Because it rhymes, it will be remembered."