Monday, April 14, 2008

FUD... FUBAR...something's rotten in the state of you know what

I'm not big on foul language.

A) my grandmother used to say cursing is the sign of a small vocabulary - which is about the worst insult I can imagine, B) I'm just not really a fan, and 3) have you ever noticed, if you don't use something much, when you do, it really packs a punch? When my grandmother called someone a "bitch," it was like E.F. Hutton talking.

I am, however, a big fan of the foul language acronym and shorthand - FUBAR, SNAFU and Charlie Foxtrot being three of my faves - though, lately, that last has been replaced with "clooster fooken" - cribbed from the witty and wonderful staff at Knock Knock HQ. Ever on the alert for more and better, yesterday, while I was researching the biodiesel thing (more on that later), I stumbled upon this: "the recent FUD about biofuel sustainability." FUD? FUD? That's easy - "fucked up discussion" right? Turns out, no. It's so much better than that. According to Wikipedia,

Fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) is a tactic of rhetoric used in sales, marketing and public relations. FUD is generally a strategic attempt to influence public perception by disseminating negative (and vague) information... FUD is a manifestation of the appeal to fear.

The manifestation of the appeal to fear.

We couldn't pull off shock and awe and the Brits already had Bond, so looky, looky what we went with. FUD.

Sounds like a fucked up discussion to me.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the shout-out out! Though it's spelled "klöosterfüken" (from the German!).