Letters to the Editor: You’re using ‘problematic’ wrong. Or are you literally gaslighting me?
To the editor: Thank you for UCLA linguist Jessica Rett’s op-ed article explicating the popular term “gaslighting.” Her description of “semantic bleaching” explains many other present-day misuses of popular words.
For example, “problematic” is the ubiquitous word of choice to express “there is a problem.” This use omits or “bleaches” the once essential connotation in the word problematic — “the outcome has yet to be determined.”
Our language, which once evolved toward clarity and grace, now instead appears to entropy toward miscommunication and the disorganization of society.
Dio Roberts, Glendale
..
To the editor: For many years I used Patrick Hamilton’s 1938 play “Gas Light” as the first assignment for my beginning theatrical lighting design students. I chose the play not only because of its single set and clear, integral lighting requirements, but also because it illuminates important issues about veracity, communication and human relations.
Merriam-Webster’s selection of the term as its 2022 word of the year highlights the prevalence of disinformation in today’s political discourse and may shed some light on the dark money that supports it.
John Sherwood, Topanga
..
To the editor: Thanks to Professor Rett for clarifying a word that is casually bandied about with its meaning often open to interpretation.
Another example: “Supreme Court,” albeit two words, seems to fit with Rett’s description of a “noncompositional” word, meaning the word is not composed of the definitions of its parts.
“Supreme” connotes the ultimate and highest degree of quality, and “court,” a body comprising unbiased adjudicators of the law.
During their Senate confirmation hearings, Justices Neil M. Gorsuch, Brett M. Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett prevaricated and deflected when asked about Roe vs. Wade, the 50-year-old abortion decision they overturned earlier this year, taking away a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion.
Justice Clarence Thomas has also failed to recuse himself from cases where he had a clear conflict of interest.
“Gaslighting” seems to be the perfect word for what the Supreme Court is doing to the American people.
Donna Sloan, Los Angeles
..
To the editor: When MGM acquired the motion picture rights to the London and Broadway stage hit that went by the title “Angel Street,” it opted to revert to the more melodramatic name based on the original play.
If the studio hadn’t made that decision, the question arises, would we be saying today when we thought we were being intentionally misled, “Don’t ‘Angel Street’ me”?
Richard Kahn, Beverly Hills
The writer is former president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
..
To the editor: To further amplify Professor Rett’s examples of semantic bleaching, we would say that the misuse of “literally” has gone even further, by taking on the meaning of its opposite, “figuratively.”
As in, “I’m literally going ballistic over the misuse of the English language.”
Scott Fraser and Ellen Butterfield, Studio City
