Minding your language

ABC prese'.1te'. Leigh Sales' ~'.obing questiomng of Opposmon Leader Ton y Abbocr o n her program matriarch who wrote tl1e m ucl1 -lauded bur controversial The Fe1J1ale Eu1111ch, h as bad no hesitation in lashing om at o t her fe 1n inine celebrities. During an ABC television debate she said tl1a cJulia Gillard sh ould accept tl,e fact that she is 'big arsed' Some years earlier she had attacked 1'fichelle Obama's choice of clothes saying that they wer e a type of apron and a 'travescy'

7.30 so enraged an impo rtant Liberal strategist Grahame Morris, chat in an inremperare moment, he called he r a ' cow' The reaction was furious an d Morris was rightly forced to apologise by Abbon.

E lsewhere, calling a female a ' cow' might have had a very differe n t reaction. Fo r exan1ple, befo re an open palm of the hand becam e the emblem of the Congress parry in India, tl, e symbol of the Indira- led Congress part was d, e cow and calf. That symbol had a wide appeal and an almost sacred connotation.

Ir was Indian -born Rud yard Kipling, creator o f li terary images of die times of the Raj, who said words are 'the mos t powerful drug u sed by mankind'. For contemporary writer Paulo Coell10 the word is one of the m ost destructive and co,vardly weapons ever invented We see tl1eir ,1se in political combat. Politicians can be admonished for what d1ey sa}; but radio shock- jocks have often made it d1eir stock-in- trade to use shocking and denigrating language. There seems to be little to contro l their their own families

We do have some wonderful wordsmiths with high inte lligence and integr ity. decades ago, I have my s ympathy for them.

Already fut urists are predicting rhe demise of newspapers within 20 ye ars. At least that wo uld give the scribes some breath in g time to chart o ,1 t their fut m e. But this doomsday is fo recast to arrive sooner than 2020 by the biggest baron of the print media, Mr Murdoch himself. He should know. 1 lc i s the one with print ink in h is vei n s Even as the pressmen's plig ht is being played Out in the papers, someone in a rece n t 'Letters tr) the Editor' coltmrn unchari tably quipped that these Cjllill drivers could b e retrained to drive dump trucks at the mines. Those of us who form the ' O' (ou tdated)

,,1 must admit journalists use colourful language as part of parading their professional skills li ke peacoc ks preening thei r pl u mage. Isn't that what they a rc trained and paid for? Who will be interested in readjng a b land narrative' Today's journalists not only need to info r m, bur enter tain as well. lnfo tainment is the name of

Where will the world the game in a competitive wo rld be without a fearless band of men and Where will t he world be w ithout a fearle ss band of men and women of the fo ,Lrth estate whose work helps to dislodge dictators, flush our fra uds and even women of the fourth estate whose work helps to dis l odge dictators, flush out frauds and even save save whales? Of course, the re m ay be some bad a pples as whales? generation have fond o r dreadful memories of how o ur teachers and parents used t0 badger us on how tO position all five fingers to hold the quill (pen, dudes) to write c ,,rsive letters like calligrnphr, But to day's yo uth use o n l)' one digit to SMS or scroll on their smart phones fo r all their info /inp ut/ o u tp ut, making the other fou r lingers redundan t

Aside from ch e c,1rrent threat o f impending redundancy, jo mn os are treated tO an ann ual roasting when the Roy Morgan lmage o f Profess ions Smvey of Ethics and Trust gets publis hed. As s ure as s un rises i n the east, nurses, docto rs and pharmacist s take t he top places, while journalists get one of the lowest rankings, just a tad a bove used car salesmen. The only consolation is that they are in close company w ith politicians The genera l public in every other profess io nthe 'cash for comment' type who get i nfluenced b)• good wining and dining and overseas jalln ts. P lenty o f char happens. Columnists arc not w1known to be into calumny, and unabashedly unload their bias on an unsuspecting public There are also a few who rake in big monC )' as mcdja minde rs, a ka spin doctors.

Notw ithstanding all that, there is a cruel irony in the 1'11lorgan survey. I low often d o we h ear at backyard barbie s someone saying "the othe r dny I read in the paper blnb, blah " to trump up tn1st in whatever he wants to say. So the general public that professes little trust in mem b ers of the fourth estate, h as no hesitation in summoning the scribes to their resc ue in times of need. l rest my case.

I hold the stand ard aloft in defence o f the profess ion to which I once belonge d

1n a globalised world, diplomatic use of language is d1e n orm for decent political disco urse The us e of animal ter m s for hum,rns i s well know n in common everyday Language. For exan1ple, tl1e Americans use d1e term ' Holy cow!' as a form of exclamation, along wid1

''It was Indian- born Rudyard Kipling , creator of literary images of the times of the Raj, who said words are 'the most powerful drug used by mankind' verbose ourput. l ew internet media which has a.ijsen in tl1e currenc environment is Facebook a nd Twitter. Eveu school kids ar e using th.is device one against another, sometimes with very serious consequences. Some schoo ls have done well to altogether ban tl1eir srnclents from having such acconnts and using these so-called 'social' media. d1e lesser used term ' H oly mackerel! '.

In most languages, the word 'swine' is inappropriate when applied co any human. Thus 'You s,vinel' mig ht b e unacceptable; but 'You lucky swine!' amongst friends in Britain and Australia is more like a pat on d1e back. Be tween d,e Mediterranean an d Soud1east As ia, it is best to keep away from tl1e word.

In the Middl e East , the \\rorcl 'dog is as equally unacceptable as is 'swine'. ln contrast, in E ngland we hear about an important perso n as being a 'top dog'; however, politicians often love to describe themselves as 'un derdogs' when they need to get the electorate 's sympad1y vote. Cats seemed co h ave had a better rating

,,People react to how a word i s spoken ai1cl pronounced Good voices create good speech which can prop el ai1 audience in one's favour. A few individuals have voices which have hardly changed over the years. lndia's most famous songstress Lata Mangeshkar who is now 82, h as over 10,000 son gs

''Despite the feminist movement and the placing of women in important positions, the place of the woman in the household has

(recognised by Guinness reco rds) to her credi t, and she still s ings to crowded auditoriw11s in a voice tl1ar is indistinguishable from d1at of her youd1.

,,be called old age. That speech has obvious ly helped in her political career She has been a US representative to the UN, ambassador to Ghana a.i1d die Cze ch Repub lic and Chief of Protoco l of d, e USA.

The American chi.Id star Shirley Temple (84) whose ability co absorb and deliver dialogue and songs still currency in the politica l scene to an enchanted audience, p reserves her youd1ful speech in what would otl, eru,;se tl1ai1 dogs Tbus well- paid bureaucracs an d corporate entities a.re often referred to as 'fat-cats'. Anothe r term used derisively when applied co humans is the word 'donkey'. Donkeys have been cons ide red smpid and useless In India th ey are used as beasts of burden by washermen The value of don.keys d uring war is emphasi sed through t he story of Simpson's D onkey which helped in r escui ng wo Lmded soldiers during a battle in World \ \7ar I. A coin commemorates the event. In S \l(! there i s a donke y rescue centre where stray or a b ando n ed donkeys are cared for and nmsed back to health. Visitors including school children, go to the centre.

President Obama, in an effort to neutralise his rival Mitt Romney's use of his wtfc Ann to bring a homel y couch co hi s image had his wife Michelle spea k at the launch o f hi s campaign. Despite the feminist m ovement and the placing of women in important positions, the place of d1e woman in the hou seho ld has still cur rency in th e political scene However, tl1e war of words on the world stage and at the micro level s uch as a school still n eeds moderation.

Germaine Greer, d1e ,veil-known feminise