Please, DO NOT use "truthiness" as a sub for "truth"!

[tblue37]

I am asking you all to K&R this, because it is something we need to get straightened out.

For some reason everyone here wants to sling the Colbert neologism "truthiness" around as if it were a cool new substitute for the word "truth." But Colbert coined the word to mean the appearance of truth, NOT the reality of it--in other words, an especially devious sort of spin or bullsh*t. It is the BushCo version of reality, "unencumbered by facts" (that is how Colbert himself defines it--"unencumbered by facts").

All over DU I see people praising Olbermann or some other one of our best speakers or writers for his or her "truthiness." This is nonsense. Our guys are speaking truth, not BS, but by saying they are speaking truthiness, you are saying they are lying. And by saying that we seek "truthiness," you are saying that we want to be lied to.

Every time I see it I want to scream, because I really hate to see us proudly proclaim that we are on the side of lies.

We are supposed to be the reality-based communtity--the exact opposite of those who "catapult" the stupid truthiness propaganda.

[buddhamama]

1. you make a very good point

point taken. :thumbsup:

[Cornus]

2. Excellent point/suggestion NT

[calico1]

3. Well said. n/t

[WePurrsevere]

4. Here's a kick for "truth"... "thruthiness" is cute but seems a bit like

"putting lipstick on a pig" sometimes. ;)

[spooky3]

6. I think the OP (and Colbert's) point was that these are not

synonyms. Colbert was not trying to be cute or to put lipstick on a pig. He (or his writers) were trying to come up with a term to capture the tendency of Bushco to make assertions that had no basis in reality in order to gain your support, and tell you they were being straight with you. He was also making fun of people who think that if they "feel" something is true regardless of scientific or other evidence, then it is.

[WePurrsevere]

10. Yes, I know they are not. synonyms. If I was not clear enough

in my reply I apologize.

I have enjoyed what little Colbert I've seen and "got" what he was doing and saying. For the record I normally prefer satire/humor to be subtle in a "gotcha" kind of way... it tends to make you think a bit more. B-)

[ms liberty]

5. K&R: Important point - thanks for explaining clearly...

I've cringed when I've seen posts using "truthiness" incorrectly. I know it's not intentional on their part, but the more it's misused, the longer it will continue to be misused; and the more public that misuse is, the more others will confuse the two.

This word is a powerful weapon in our arsenal - Don't ruin it through misuse!

[formercia]

7. A lie is not a difference of opinion. n/t

[Vanje]

8. Word! nt

[farmbo]

9. Yep..and while we're still at it, don't use "Islamofacist" to describe...

...Islamic Fundamentalists.

"Islamofacist" is the truthinistic word being used by the GOP to describe the Islamic Religious Fundamantalists in al Queda who attacked us on 9/11.

Trouble is, 40% of the Republican base consists of Christian Religious Fundamentalists, so a true description of al Queda is just too close for comfort.

So, viola! A truthiness word: "Islamofacist."

[ArmchairMeme]

11. You got it!

I like the connection.

"So, viola! A truthiness word: "islamofacist."

Again the Bush/Rumsfield attempt to confuse and intimidate people with a newly coined term that means exactly the opposite. They are still doing the same thing as clear skys and no child left behind slogans.

It is a con game trick!

[liberaldemocrat7]

12. Counterfeit.

I like to use the word counterfeit when referring to George W Bush and his fellow misleaders in the REPUBLIKLAN Party.

Counterfeit items can show the appearance of something genuine to an extent but you realize that enough appears false.

The Republicans show counterfeit compassion, counterfeit morality, and tell counterfeit staments often.

[Nozebro]

13. Other common mistakes: there, their, using an apostrophe to make a word

plural (as in cat's), you, your, you're, were instead of where, and the most irritating of all, to me, is the nonuse of punctuation.

To be effective we must achieve clarity of expression. We need to know how to present ideas forcefully, without confusion or unnecessrary words, by choosing language suited to our purpose.

[Igel]

14. I would never confuse the two.

But you confuse truthiness with lying. They are crucially different.

Three examples to clarify:

In 1969 my 3rd grade teacher said that one couldn't subtract 6 from 3: 6 - 3 was, to use a word I learned later, undefined. She was lying; she knew about negative numbers, and made a statement that was false knowing it was false.

In 1969 the same teacher said that protons couldn't be broken down into any constituent parts. She wasn't lying; she didn't know about proton decay or collision by-products. Quarks weren't even theory at the time. She made a statement that was false but didn't have the information necessary to know it was false.

In 1989 an acquaintance raved about zero-point energy. He was educated in enough physics to understand what was being said, and decided to reject the evidence he was given and the arguments for much of wave theory. His statements were false, and he had enough information to know that they were false. But since he believed that his statements were true, and the information showing otherwise were false, his statements were truthy. At least that's what I consider the best use for the word.

A lot of reasoning that appears truthy is abductive. Sometimes the two are lumped together; I like to separate them, and call a fallacy a fallacy.

[tblue37]

16. Actually, I realize that there is a very subtle distinction

between truthiness and outright lying, but I am trying to get people to stop using "truthiness" when they mean "truth," and I think that subtlety might undermine that goal. It is enough for them to understand that "truthiness" should not be used to describe the good thing our side does when it tells the truth.

A simpler way of putting it might be

"truthiness" = bad

"truth" = good

[SeveneightyWhoa]

15. People who use the word 'truthiness' incorrectly need to be slapped..

..with a dictionary!

[Zodiak]

17. No, they need to be put...

On notice!!

[tblue37]

18. Except, of course, that "truthiness" is not in the dictionary! (eom)

[Make7]

23. Actually, it's in the Oxford English Dictionary.

I certainly wouldn't want to get slapped with that! Ouch!

...truthiness wouldn't necessarily offend the Word Police either, since it actually appears in the Oxford English Dictionary. The OED has an entry for truthy, marked "rare or dialectal" and defined as "characterized by truth; truthful, true." The derived form truthiness (meaning "truthfulness, faithfulness") follows, supported by this citation:

1824 J. J. Gurney in Braithwaite Mem. (1854) I. 242 Everyone who knows her is aware of her truthiness.

http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002586.html

- Make7

[Liberal Dose]

19. THANK YOU! This has been driving me nuts.

Truthiness is FEELING the truth, and has no basis in fact.

:7

[Lisa]

20. Hear, hear! Colbert was very careful about the way he defined it

And I think he (the real Stephen, not the TV personality he portrays) would be genuinely distressed if it were used in such a way as to confuse the issue.

[mirandapriestly]

21. I have seen it misused, too. Thanks for bringing it up.eom

[Ms. Clio]

22. Thank you, I have made this point several times

It's been bugging me for the longest.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

24. Oh stop it with your truthiness.

My truthiness tells my heart that my truthiness is the truth.


:hi:



















:hide:

[nashville_brook]

25. i've seen it used correctly most of the time here...

but, point well taken

[Senator]

26. Yes, this is "that important" ... Words Matter

Really I'm just kicking the thread.

==

[Swamp Rat]

27. "We are supposed to be the reality-based communtity"

OK. My bad. :yoiks:

[rman]

28. I know, but can't we just hijack the word?

[Wonk]

29. K & R for people saying what we mean and meaning what we say.