Skrunkle. #WeaselWords

Simperly. #WeaselWords

Chomberly. #WeaselWords

Scrumberly. #WeaselWords

Mlammo. #WeaselWords

The 60s “was a time of great change in the world and in the church, and I succumbed to its zeitgeist” #WeaselWords

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/20/new-orleans-priest-lawrence-hecker-child-abuse?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

I hate that journalists commonly use the terms "sexual impropriety" and "sexual misconduct" to refer to sexual harassment and sexual assault. It emphasizes 'sex' as the problem rather than the assault. If you didn't know the context, you might think they were talking about violation of puritanical sexual mores or institutional policies (like 'fraternization' in the military).
#journalism #weaselwords #sex #assault #harassment

https://open.substack.com/pub/framelab/p/time-to-get-woke-about-woke?r=g1j3m&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email #language #politics #lakoff #weaselwords

#MichaelKnowles claims his eradication comment isn't about people. #WeaselWords #conservatives made up, #transgenderism, and #TransgenderIdeology, aren't things.

#Transgender is an umbrella term for #GenderVariant people. There's a biological #spectrum beyond the #binary.

The #GOP pretends things are black and white. #Abortion always takes a life. Banning it always protects a life. There are only XX female and XY male humans. #Science and #history prove both wrong.

https://t.co/W9XdsAI8yr

Parsing through the weasel words, for fun and (avoidance of) profit.

#Privacy #WeaselWords

Oh wow, it's taken many weeks, but I think I've finally achieved some kind of consensus on #Wikipedia that this was not, in fact, a neutral way of describing the controversies around #ABA: "ABA is considered controversial by some within the autism rights movement due to a perception that it emphasizes normality instead of acceptance, and a history of, in some embodiments of ABA and its predecessors, the use of aversives, such as electric shocks."
#weaselWords

Gah! The hardest part of #revision and #writing is the searching for and replacing words like "just" and "almost." My eyes glaze over, I start sweeping the floor, and posting on Mastodon...

#goForTheJoke #Procrastination to the max!

#weaselwords #hedgeWords: https://eldritch.cafe/@sfwrtr/109848411474463991

Here's some #writingAdvice: Create a list of problem words that flag problems in your writing as you #revise. Here's my list of #hedgeWords and #weaselWords.

(Reply with yours! I'll add them. Boost to share with others.)

• about
• almost
• “and” conjuction run-ons. Could you break that sentence into two and save the conjunction?
• barely
• begin
• “but” conjunction run-ons. Could you break that sentence and two and still provide the same contrast?
• can (in the sense of maybe)
• certainly
• generally
• I/he saw that (If the act of observation is paramount, don’t remove, don't remove such constructions.)
• I/he heard that
• I/he read that
• I/he felt that
• I/he noticed that
• I/he recognized that
• just
• kind of
• maybe
• mostly
• near (in the sense of almost)
• of course
• one (in the sense of quantity when stating such is unnecessary)
• one (as a pronoun—generally sounds bad)
• perhaps
• possibly
• potentially (in the sense of maybe)
• probably
• really (the interject
• some (in the sense of indeterminate)
• sort of
• start, started to
• still
• that (a latinate construction that can often be omitted when used to introduce a subordinate clause, but not always. Comprehension is paramount.)
• usually
• you can (verb)

My biggest bugaboos are words that soften (hedge) the impact of a sentence or keep the narrator from (weaselly) committing to action. Both kill effective narration, as the narrator knows all tells what's necessary. Careful, though. Such word mimic normal speech, as between subordinate and dominant people and in cautious conversation.

When you find these words, stop and examine the context of the word.

• Does the word serve a purpose? If not, delete. I suggest removing it provisionally; this makes it clear.
• Can a strong word substitute? If, substitute.
• Is something lost if the word, phrase, or sentence is removed? If not, delete.
• Will recasting the sentence clarify or strength the it?

A good list should transform your prose, turning hesitancy to decisive action. Deleting these words removes verbiage, making your writing concise and hard edged. Each and every word must serve a purpose, whether functional or aesthetic.

#boostingIsSharing

#amRevising #writing #fiction #writingLife

@MichaelPryor This is my life as I #amrevising, along with about, almost, barely, begin, but, certainly, generally, I saw/felt/heard/read/thought that, kind of, maybe, mostly, near, of course, one (indefinite pronoun), perhaps, potentially, possibly, probably, really, some, sort of, started, still, that, usually, and you can. These are my weasel and hedge words. Makes you want a macro language in your word processor to help you find them, don't it!

Sadly, I don't smoke.

#writingLife #writing #weaselWords #hedgeWords

#Tory Treasurer hired by #Sunak and #Zahawi rakes it in from #Russian #oil industry - Mirror Online

#PrimeMinister Mr Sunak said, while Chancellor last March: “I am urging firms to think very carefully about their investments in Russia &how they may aid the Putin regime.”

Unsurprisingly ‘carefully’ worded statement from #hypocrite #PM, who has shown in 100Days that he has not an ounce of #integrity
#WeaselWords

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/tory-treasurer-hired-sunak-zahawi-29076834

TL;DR: Seth Abrahamson is falsifying with his claim that Mastodon admins are secretly reading our DMs and his claim that they are "overlords" acting like "secret police" represents a very dangerous sort of finger-pointing associated with, well, secret police. Methinks the liar doth protest too much.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One of the claims Seth Abrahamson makes on his post article is not only false it is sensationalism in a sort of inverted Alex Jones style:

Writing in "The Post" which might more appropriately be deemed "The Pest", he claims:

".. the sometimes-anonymous overlords of an individual Mastodon server can actually read your private messages without your knowledge... the level of content moderation on that site extended even to a secret police–like surveillance of users’ private communications..."

☝️ Regarding "the sometimes-anonymous overlords"

☝️☝️almost every significant instance is hosted by a person who gives their full legal name and in many cases they proudly state their business or place of employment and can be verified on Linked In. His use of the #weaselwords does not change the fact that his characterization of Mastodon admins as 'anonymous overlords' is both wrong and demagogic

☝️Regarding "can actually read your private messages without your knowledge...secretely"

☝️☝️​ there is full disclosure everywhere you look that DMs are not encrypted on Mastodon.

You are warned and advised to use email, Signal or some alternative for private comms. Abrahamson incorrectly characterizes DMs as "private" but they are expressly NOT private. No one thinks that but perhaps Abrahamson's cult of devotees.

Mastodon admins are probably the busiest techies on the planet who are not in a sweatshop like twitter where the threat of losing their work visa and a sadistic madman of a boss are driving them to work long hours.

They simply don't have the time to read or surveill anyone's DMs even if they wanted to.

☝️☝️It is technologically intricate and time-consuming to plow through DM. This can be fact checked with @tim @Gargron
@jerry or anyone at #admin

-
☝️Insofar as it is common knowledge that the DMs are not encrypted, if a harassing or threatening DM were sent they would have the ability to verify that they were sent as alleged. This is true of twitter and Facebook as well, for that matter.

☝️Regarding " the level of content moderation on that site extended even to a secret police..."

☝️ ☝️Aside from the distortions and falsifications, if true, these alleged Stasi/Gestapo/FSB surveillance activities would not be 'content moderation'. He is commingling the complex issue of #contentmoderation with the issue of #privacy in a bizarre false reality of his own making. To the extent it is at all intelligible, it would be some kind of illicit peeping tom malfeasance with no legitimate connection to content moderation. It seems like he is trying to leverage discontent with content moderation and parlay into a following by hitching it to his hyperbole.

Seems like the kind of thing that Trump does, but on a somewhat more sophisticated level. Sneaky, really.

☝️☝️ In conclusion ☝️☝️

Seth Abrahamson has a reputation evident on a search engine output in which unsurprisingly consistent with the above. And that is just one point among many in his article of Pest. Note also, the top return on #duckduckgo leads to an embarassing tweet that he deleted. Despite his sanitizing, the Duck Duck Go server retains the gist of the tweet, which I have posted here on another entire thread. This particular thread is restricted to his near-slanderous allegations about #mods and #Moderation

What goes around comes around. They're now actively seeking ways how to sell their users.

#Mozilla #fake #privacy #weaselwords

"Advertising provides critical support for the Web. We’ve been looking to apply privacy preserving advertising technology to the attribution problem"

https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/privacy-preserving-attribution-for-advertising/