alternative hippopotamus

progressive cyberdadaism from our nation’s capital

June 21, 2006

Word of the Day: Echolalia

by AltHippo @ 1:17 pm. Filed under Uncategorized

Wordnet defines echolalia as follows: (psychiatry) mechanical and meaningless repetition of the words of another person (as in schizophrenia).

Since this definition doesn’t fit what I want to say in this post, I will change it slightly. echolalia is: (rhetoric) the use of mechanical and meaningless repetition to avoid saying anything particular, and to push your brand, as in advertising, certain Protestant religions, and Republican talking points.

In case anyone wonders if it’s valid for me to create my own definition, I’ll remind you that everything changed after 9.11. Even words and phrases. The notion that words and phrases have an actual, precise meaning gave way to a more democratic post-9.11 practise, where they were instead taken to mean whatever meaning their author wanted.

And, as a result, we are safer from the terrorists, whether they are dead or alive. We have spread democracy. We have fought them over there, so we don’t have to fight them here. We are winning the War on Terror, and prevented weapons of mass destruction from aiding brutal dictators in a spider hole.

And we didn’t cut and run. Not once did we, as the phrase origin’s indicate, slash our “ship’s anchor chain and outrace overwhelming enemy fire.” This was likely a result of our superior firepower and number of troops. Also, Iraq is in a desert, and it seemed silly to use ships there.

So, try not to blame America first. And pass me the jar of democracy, and a butter knife so I can spread it.

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One Response to “Word of the Day: Echolalia”

  1. Mental Health Update Says:
    June 22nd, 2006 at 12:29 am

    Word of the Day: Echolalia

    I’ve never heard echolalia and schizophrenia associated before….

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