[IP] more on "Whistleblower" is not a mere neologism

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Rabkin, Eric" <esrabkin@umich.edu>
Date: May 15, 2006 10:32:20 AM EDT
To: dave@farber.net
Subject: RE: [IP] more on "Whistleblower" is not a mere neologism

Dave, words clearly matter: "traitor," "patriot," "whistleblower."
Minor in the current instance but major in general is attention the full
sense and history of a word:

> Neologisms are objectionable when they simply express a
> concept more poorly than a pre-existing word -- "detrain" is
> thus a poor substitute for "disembark."

Not so.  "Disembark" means "undo embarcation" and "embarcation" means
"enter a boat [bark]," as in San Francisco's famous Embarcadero (an
otherwise rare word in English, although not rare in Spanish, for
wharf).  "Detrain" is as specific today as "disembark" once was, before
there were trains or planes from which to "disembark."  (See how odd
that word now sounds?)

Three points, then.  First, technological change fosters linguistic
change.  It is silly to "dial" a telephone these days, yet we still do,
and will until we all eventually choose among "touch," "push," "press,"
or some other option.  ("Press" seems to me in the lead, but if "button"
technology moves quickly toward "touch screens," "touch" is likely to
win.)  We now speak of "analog watches" where once we spoke simply of
"watches" only because the invention of "digital watches" prompted that
disambiguating coinage by analogy.

Second, the range of a word and its history represent enormous cultural
riches we all potentially share.  "Whistleblower" overlaps in denotation
with, say, "muckracker" and "witness."  But "whistleblower," with its
connotation of stopping crime or other improper activity and especially
in large organizations, carries with it the policeman's whistle once
often used to halt supposed miscreants and the factory whistle once
often used to end--and begin anew--work shifts.  The policeman has a
duty to blow the whistle; the worker the inside knowledge willy nilly.
The "muckraker" on the other hand comes unbidden from outside (we
usually associate this word with journalists) and the "witness" suggests
no personal involvement in the acts.  "Whistleblower" is a rich word.
One may prefer others in this instance, but that preference should be a
matter of one's understanding of the action, not of the word itself.

Third, the current debate, not about "disembark" versus "detrain" but
about "traitor," "patriot," and "whistleblower" underscores the place of
language as a crucial tool of sociality.  The current political issue
arises from actions that I find literally egregious.  (These spying
individuals have surreptitiously and philosophically separated
themselves from the generality [flock, Latin grex] of Americans.) But
the heat of concern for this political issue should not move us to
ignore all the other words we use.  Getting our words right both guides
politics and enables poetry.  Protecting our language, as Orwell
understood, protects us.  I'm glad IPers care.

Eric

-------------------------------------------------
Eric S. Rabkin              734-764-2553 (Office)
Dept of English             734-764-6330 (Dept)
Univ of Michigan            734-763-3128 (Fax)
Ann Arbor MI 48109-1003     esrabkin@umich.edu
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~esrabkin/


> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Farber [mailto:dave@farber.net]
> Sent: Sunday, May 14, 2006 17:15
> To: ip@v2.listbox.com
> Subject: [IP] more on "Whistleblower" is not a mere neologism
>
>
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Paul Saffo <paul@saffo.com>
> Date: May 14, 2006 5:10:24 PM EDT
> To: dave@farber.net
> Subject: "Whistleblower" is not a mere neologism
>
> Actually, Whistleblower is hardly a neologism.  According to
> wordorigins.org and several other sources, the word was first used
> back in 1970, and the phrase "blow the whistle" dates to 1934.
> Neologisms are objectionable when they simply express a
> concept more poorly than a pre-existing word -- "detrain" is
> thus a poor substitute for "disembark."
> But "whistleblower" neatly captures a concept for which there was no
> prior word.   Your dislike of the word in this instance only
> confirms
> that  "whistleblower" is no mere neologism, but a euphonious
> and descriptive word with the power to persuade.  Your
> argument would be clearer if you restated it  as follows:
> "Mr. Klein is not a whistleblower, but a traitor."
>
>
> -p
>
>
>
> On May 14, at , David Farber wrote:
>
> > Begin forwarded message:
> >
> > From: Joe Pistritto <jcp@jcphome.com>
> > Date: May 14, 2006 4:22:32 PM EDT
> > To: dave@farber.net, EEkid@aol.com
> > Subject: RE: [IP] Whistleblower outs NSA's secret spy room at AT&T
> >
> > You know, its just deplorable how people are inventing new
> words where
> > old ones are perfectly usable.  You know, like "detrain"
> and "deplane"
> > instead
> > of "disembark".   Its really too bad we don't have an
> equivalent of
> > the
> > French Academy to regulate the use of English the way they do in
> > French.
> >
> > In this case, the word you are looking for isn't
> "whistleblower", but
> > rather "traitor".
> >
> >    Best regards,
> >        -jcp-
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: David Farber [mailto:dave@farber.net]
> > Sent: Sunday, May 14, 2006 3:38 AM
> > To: ip@v2.listbox.com
> > Subject: [IP] Whistleblower outs NSA's secret spy room at AT&T
> >
> >
> >
> > Begin forwarded message:
> >
> > From: EEkid@aol.com
> > Date: May 13, 2006 8:01:24 PM EDT
> > To: dave@farber.net
> > Subject: Whistleblower outs NSA's secret spy room at AT&T
> >
> > Whistleblower outs NSA's secret spy room at AT&T
> >
> > April 08, 2006
> >
> > Mark Klein, a retired AT&T communications technician, said
> the company
> > shunted all Internet traffic--including traffic from peering links
> > connecting to other Internet backbone providers-- to
> semantic traffic
> > analyzers, installed in a secret room inside the AT&T
> central office
> > on Folsom Street in San Francisco. Similar rooms were built in
> > Seattle, San Jose, Los Angeles and San Diego.
> >
> > "Based on my understanding of the connections and equipment
> at issue,
> > it appears the NSA (National Security Agency) is capable of
> conducting
> > what amounts to vacuum-cleaner surveillance of all the data
> crossing
> > the Internet," Klein said. "This potential spying appears to be
> > applied wholesale to all sorts of Internet communications
> of countless
> > citizens."
> >
> > In 2003, the National Security Agency set up a secret room
> inside the
> > phone company's San Francisco office building that was not
> accessible
> > to AT&T technicians, Klein said.
> >
> > The former employee's statement, as well as several
> documents saved by
> > him after he left the company in 2004, shows further evidence of
> > domestic spying initiatives by the federal government.
> >
> > Klein's statement is being incorporated into a class action
> filed in
> > San Francisco federal court, in which lawyers with the Electronic
> > Frontier Foundation (EFF), Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman &
> > Robbins, and Traber & Voorhees in Pasadena claim that AT&T
> illegally
> > allowed the NSA taps.
> >
> > "Despite what we are hearing, and considering the public
> track record
> > of this administration, I simply do not believe their
> claims that the
> > NSA's spying program is really limited to foreign
> communications or is
> > otherwise consistent with the NSA's charter or with FISA
> [the Foreign
> > Intelligence Surveillance Act]," Klein said.
> >
> > News that the NSA was working with major telecommunications
> companies
> > first surfaced shortly before Christmas. The Bush
> administration has
> > acknowledged the existence of a domestic spying program, but claims
> > the executive order was limited to those individuals with known
> > terrorist ties.
> >
> > The Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a class-action lawsuit
> > against AT&T on January 31, 2006, accusing the telecom giant of
> > violating the law and the privacy of its customers by collaborating
> > with the National Security Agency in its massive program to wiretap
> > and data-mine Americans' communications.
> >
> > "The evidence that we are filing supports our claim that AT&T is
> > diverting Internet traffic into the hands of the NSA wholesale, in
> > violation of federal wiretapping laws and the Fourth
> Amendment," EFF
> > Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston said in a statement.
> >
> >
> >
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