DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - The ancient belief in words having "magical" power

**chelviweeme** · 04-05-2012, 02:30 PM

Here is another example of how language tricks can really effect people's perception of things:

Over the past 20 years or so, fasting has started to be referred to as "starving ones self" or a "starvation" diet. Because of this one tricky word, many people actually believe that someone going on a short fast is literally starving. It has even become en vogue for a reduced calorie diet to be known as a "starvation diet" even as many people considering such a diet are severely overweight. It is fascinating to me that even though there is ZERO practical risk of most people starving/wasting away, many people still believe that there is.
Again, these language tricks are everywhere.

dys

04-05-2012, 02:30 PM	#10
chelviweeme Join Date Nov 2005 Posts 480 Senior Member	Here is another example of how language tricks can really effect people's perception of things: Over the past 20 years or so, fasting has started to be referred to as "starving ones self" or a "starvation" diet. Because of this one tricky word, many people actually believe that someone going on a short fast is literally starving. It has even become en vogue for a reduced calorie diet to be known as a "starvation diet" even as many people considering such a diet are severely overweight. It is fascinating to me that even though there is ZERO practical risk of most people starving/wasting away, many people still believe that there is. Again, these language tricks are everywhere. dys
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