Editorial opinion
How ironic that the Department
of Nursing should find itself
plagued by an internal illness.
Outward symptoms of the
disease may come in the form of a
missing department' head or
irregular filing procedures.
Victims of the disease have
been known to suffer from loss of
accreditation or approval. It is also
important to note that the malady is
contagious; it adversely affects all
those who come in contact with it.
Late last year, the head of-the
Department of Nursing resigned
and was replaced by an acting
head an understandable and
wise move at the time.
But nine months later, the
department is still directed by that
temporary replacement. Nine
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A toilet by any other name just ain't the same
' At a time when the English language is abused as never
before, when Jargonand doubletalk are.surging and precise
speech and writing are gradually eroding away, the American
public is beset by a class of idiom perpetrated by the ad
advertising and promotion Industries and condoned by govern
ment. Euphemisms. Perversions of speech that obscure
meanings and remove many of the picturesque elements from
description and general conversation. Dictionaries call
euphemisms "words substituted for more plainly explicit
words which might prove offensive to some readers or
listeners," and there are, admittedly, rare cases in which the
more descriptive, precise word is simply too earthy for the
sensibilities of some.
The sad truth, though, Is that more and more Americans are
mistreating the language and with the help of Madison Avenue
and Washington D. C., euphemisms are beginning to take a
harsh toll on American speech and letters. The creation of
euphemisms and their quick absorption Into the culture is
frightening. The Dictionary of Contemporary Usage provides
some excellent examples.
A used, second or third-hand car is never “used” anymore. It
is only pre-owned (even if it has 98,000 miles on the odometer
and a paint job that makes it look like It’s been sandblasted
with half-inch ball bearings). A sewer commission is now a
pollution-control agency. People are no longer fired from their
jobs, or even "terminated.” They’re riffed, an acronym for
"reduction in force." Or better still, “selected out,” a term with
widespread use, especially in government.
"SENATOR. IT WAS OUSTSOME CWKPDT fWI 6EOR3/A WHO VINttW
YOU TO SO RUNNING- WITH HIM,, T v
Heal thyself
months later, a search for a per
manent head has yielded only two
'possible candidates.
And, most importantly, nine
months later finds Penn State’s
Department of Nursing faced with
possible loss of approval by the
State Board of Nurse Examiners
and loss of accreditation by the
National League for Nursing.
Both groups require that all nurs
ing institutions have permanent,
not "acting,” directors, before they
give the school their okay.
Their approval is not something
to be taken lightly; it is not merely a
glorified certificate of achieve
ment. Rather, it is a vitally neces
sary tbol for the proper functioning
of the department.
Above all, it is crucial for the
students.
Of course, there haven't been any janitors around for years.
They all died one sad day and were reincarnated the next as
“maintenance superintendents” or simply, “supers,” a word
with wonderfully powerful and pleasant, though usually
Inaccurate, connotations. Plumbers are "sanitation engineers"
and a trash can is an "ecological receptacle,” in fact, one wlth-
It garbage man, in an attempt to cash in on the science and
engineering booms of the past decade, has labeled himself a
“garbologlst" and adopted the slogan “Satisfaction guaranteed
or your garbage refunded."
America’s unfortunate folly in Indochina spawned literally
hundreds of euphemisms. After awhile the military establish
ment began to get embarassed about reporting the destruction
of native junks, sampans and other small boats by supersonic
warplanes—it was a little like swatting a fly with a baseball
bat and grouped all of these boats into a false category they
labeled “wiblics,” a failed acronym for Water Borne Logistical
Craft. It seems that to “clear a wibllc” Is much more impressive
than to simply blow a sampan to bits.
Search and destroy missions became too ruthless an ap-
Graduates from non-approved
schools may not take state nursing
exams. They may not legally
become licensed registered nurs
es. And, chances are, they will be
beaten out in the job market.
Students in any discipline
deserve no less than the best from
their department. Their tuition
check entitles them to adequate
guidance AND to a guarantee that
they are being prepared as
adequately as possible for future
employment.
So far, two candidates have
been suggested as permanent
department heads. But first, the
candidates must be interviewed by
the faculty and, administration for
the department and then approved
by the Board of Trustees.
for longer,
w / wßdwqA
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I EDMUND J
George
Osgood
However, the Trustees do not
meet until September. The
deadline for the appointment of a
permanent director is Aug. 1.
Department officials feel certain
that Penn State’s Department of
Nursing will retain its state ap
proval. We hope so too.
But the real issue is that they
have let things go this far, that they
had to be faced with a threat
before they would act.
Perhaps they are knotted up in
red tape. Perhaps they are
drowning in a whirlpool of
bureaucracy. But those are only
empty phrases to describe empty
actions.
The first of August is still a few
weeks away. There is still time.
Physician, heal thyself.
Motorist fears Congress
I was in a mellow mood the other day,
cruising down Interstate 80 in the
sunlight, watching the lines go by.
Suddenly, without warning,
something enormous shot by me with a
roar and stench of burned rubber, it
rattled my car, deafened my ears, and
forced me off of the road.
As I watched it dwindle in the
distance, going about 80 miles per hour,
I wondered, was It a bird? Was it a
plane? No, it was a supertruck, an 80.886
pound, eight-foot wide, monstrous mass
of metal. These beasts are the largest
animals ever to ram the earth, dwarfing
even the dinosaurs, and perhaps are the
most dangerous.
And, as if this weren't enough,
there’s a move in Washington to make
them wider and longer and heavier. The
trucking industry, encouraged by but not
satisfied with size increases granted to
them by Congress last year, is pushing
for special recommendations that would
Increase the present 40-ton weight limit j
to 60-tons by 1985.
This overall increase in size Includes |
an increase In width from 96 to 102 {
inches, and virtually no limit to length./
Though most states ban trucks which/,
are longer than 55 feet, the truck lobby Is
trying to obtain permits for twin 40-foo/
trailers and even triples. I
pellation when military efforts in Vietjm began to come under • but by that friendly tradesman, the "plumber."
intense public scrutiny, so they and replaced by The list goes on and on, and is growing daily. There are
“search and clear" missions. May bombing raids were even euphemisms for other euphemisms that fall out of favor
"protective retaliations." The best simple that I came across Financially bereft people used to be poor. Then they became
concerned the accidental shelling (f one U.S. position by “needy." Sociologists and psychiatrists evidently determined
another. The Pentagon brass didn’t^ ll it "misdirected fire" or that to consider oneself “needy” was self-defeating and
even a “regrettable error." It was tied, in true euphemistic unhealthy, so "needy” was scrapped In favor of “culturally
fashion, "accidental delivery of ordface equipment." deprived.". But "deprived" created a bad image, so the poor
Madison Avenue has had a pervs've Influence on American became “underprivileged” which itself became too descriptive
.diction. Thanks to the ad'men, Nothing is ever "large” or and was changed to "disadvantaged."
"cheap'," it’s “king-sized" or “ec/omy-prlced.” Clothes ate As the euphemisms accrue, the actual meaning of the
not ticketed for fat boys but for “leky lads." Their fat fathers original word is further and further beclouded. It is the same
don’t find any racks labeled "FaUut get their garments from with all euphemisms: their function is not one of clarification
the “portly" or "big" sections. Pt an unspecified point In and description, but of imprecision, ambiguity and distortion
their late thirties, women obese nor age, rather they Maury Maverick, a government agency head during the Forties
“mature" and become "matrons.? nice, motherly ring to that, and Fifties, was angered by the spread of euphemisms, then
Some of the best examples ohis calculated abuse of the called "gobbledegook language" (hence, euphemism is a
English language came out of hearings and their euphemism for Itself) and threatened that "anyone using words
aftermath. Burglary of a psychjrlst’s office was consistently like ’activation’ and ‘implementation’ will be shot.”
referred to as an operation; "part of the That may be an extreme position, but It would solve a
conspiracy that was called theWerall game plan." There was problem that has Increased tenfold since Maverick’s time
a great tendency, for some ufiown reason, to create nearly Everyone ha 3 to pitch in and consciously strive to eliminate
meaningless phrases rather tt> use a single, precise word or these bastard words from the American vocabulary. '
a commonly used, completeljdequate phrase. For example: The next time you feel the urge, don’t go to the powder
“at this point In time (translate now); “at that point in time" room, don’t see a man about a dog, and please don’t go to the
(translation: then); “electific surveillance" (translation: little girls’(or little boys’) room. Just go to the bathroom Or be
wiretapping). Breaking andnterlng became "surreptitious even more descriptive and accurate. Gentility is one thing but
entry" and was performed y. by political espionage agents, just as a rose is a rose is a rose, a toilet is, after all, a toilet’
Let/ers to the Editor
Appreciation
TO THE EDITOR: Tfjalntlng by fifteen year old Heather
Fleming which was tin from the HUB has been recovered
and will be returned tfer. The painting was abandoned In the
Engineering Compleil
We feel certain to your publishing a photograph of the
painting In The Del Collegian on July 14, 1976 was In
strumental In its pvery. We appreciate your help and
assistance In this mjsr.
V
>jpple don't always disdain Cosmo
'ssexiat, but because It Is primarily
f college woman. The disapproval Ms.
Ig Cosmo was probably snobbery. You
prd to serve a diplomatic dinner on T.V.
led "college girl”, reading Cosmo Is
ce owning “The Greatest Hits of the
'erybody sneers at the aspiratlone,
>f the group below her or him In the
Is as divisive as It Is unjust. But let’s be
[ere, they didn’t actually disparage Ms.
or them.
lections to Cosmo are really class
feepskins, nevertheless, there are some
laints against the magazine. It’s bad
and Penthouse treat women as another
imodlty. The busty blonde Is Just another
led along with a man’s Chivas Regal,
is shoes. That Cosmo should encourage
mselves as consumer goods Is revolting.
Cosmo
TO THE EDITO)
magazine becauf It
directed toward f nc
Palencar felt whVbuyl
wouldn't expectptty 1
trays, and forfcertl
declasse. It's -fiber I
Cupcakes." Afost I
philosophy an tastf
hierarchy. ThlfMituf
fair to those P. re/
Palencar a f did If
Granted Jny j
prejudices cP in
valid femlnjf cor
enough thaflayb/
status-enheJsing <
item to becons
Cadillac an Adlr
women to feat
TH3 entire movement Is backed by the
Ford administration, which, ''when
confined with the influence to the truck
- 'y assures that the
-38 will pass.
itlonal Highway Traffic
ration reported this year
i rate of nontruck par
uck-car accidents In
welght of the involved
/ Fact: Many truck drivers already
object to driving with 80,000 pounds of
[truck behind them. An Increase to
[120,000 pounds would be Intolerable to
many.
I Fact: Regardless of any claims to the
[contrary, a 60-ton vehicle will tear up the
roads very quickly and efficiently. Of
course, taxpayers’ money will be heeded
to fix these roads. Any fuel economy
resulting from supertrucks will be more
than offset by the costs of accidents and
road repairs.
i David E. Sformar
Director, Police Service
*ON YOUR MAR<....<SBTSGT,...*
ler super
Tom
Reeher
The “layouts on sexy summer negligees" Ms. Palencar
mentioned do just that. The Gothic Romances Inculcate a
woman’s subconscious with sentimental claptrdp. They cloud
her decision process with unrealizable expectations and give
her fairy-tale princess role models. If any woman succeeded In
becoming a “Cosmo Girl” she would be a fantastic creature
Indeed a combination Valkyrie and Electric Penis-
Sharpening Machine. This creature might well need Cosmo’s
pyschology column.
Liberation does come In many forms as Ms. Palencar
suggested. However, rebaptlzing an old oppression and calling
it a liberation Is the sort of hocus-pocus I would hope women
could see through. If It’s embarrassing to wear chains, by all
means, fet's call them jewelryl George Wallace can probably
find a Black person somewhere who says that he really loves
picking cotton and that everything since Brown.vs. the Board
of Education has been an awful mistake, but at least Ebony
doesn't propagandize for this point of view, why should
women make sexist magazines profitable?
As for the What-can-l-do-anyway syndrome, remember that
Christianity was founded by an unemployed carpenter and his
disreputable friends. Communism, before which we tremble,
was started by a handful of bald men In baggy brown suits. If
you’re not too far gone In resignation, the Women’s Resource'
Center could direct you toward some worthwlle feminist
projects, or make better use of your $1.25.
JANICE SELINGER
Summer Editor
push
trucks
Someone is insulting my intelligence "
when they tell me that a 60-ton super- «
truck can roll down tt)e highway, and I >
can’t even put studded safety tire’s on my .
car.
. To tell the truth, I’m scared to death of ' ’
those supertrucks. If you observe the 55 a
mile per hour speed limit, it’s Impossible it
to avoid them, and the safety hazard that >«
they represent by going downhill at 80
mph and uphill at 30 mph is enormous.
Oh, someone is sure to say that these
trucks are an economical asset, that
they’re benefitting me, the consumer, by r
reducing overall costs, that they’re not 'ft
really all that dangerous, that the truck „
driver’s skill will compensate for the size ""
increases.
Well, the fact is that they are Z
dangerous. I cannot justify the loss of “1
even one human life by citing economic »
gain. And I won’t compromise my a
principles by cowering under the shadow **
of a 60-ton Mack truck, and I won’t bet «*»
my life on the skill of any truck driver. »
But I may have to. **
There will be a battle in Washington «
between consumer representatives and
truck lobbyists, and I’m afraid that that £
battle will be as uneven as the one Ks,<
currently being fought on the highways EJ
between the automobile and the
supertruck. «
Claudia McClallan
Unlveralty Employee
NADINE KINSEY
Business Manager
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