The language we use, and the words and phrases we choose, are all up for grabs and manipulation. This manipulation, or wilful misinterpretation, is most prevalent and dangerous in a society riven with rhetoric of revolution and recrimination, and marked by the politics of revenge. It is therefore necessary to use words with caution and circumspection, and to twin it all with explanations and caveats.

I remain loyal to John Maynard Keynes’ aphorism that “words ought to be a little wild, for they are the assaults of thoughts on the unthinking”. What cannot be prevented is for words and phrases, even concepts, wild as they may seem, to be abused and manipulated. ..

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