The L Word

"That's a word I take from no man! Put up your fists!" -- Victor McLaglen as Will Danaher in "The Quiet Man,"  (1952).

   Time was, using the L word would bring that kind of response, even if metaphorical. And until last year, the L word rarely appeared in mainstream news media.
   Now, an entire half-hour segment can list and document the number of times as well as the specific details and background to the falsehoods the current president of the United States has uttered.
   Roll the video.
   Recently, he was asked about his promise to personally donate $1 million to charity if Sen. Elizabeth Warren took a DNA test to prove her claim of Native American ancestry.
   So she did, and the results were positive. But when the president was asked when he would fulfill his promise, his answer was, "I never said that."
   So TV stations rolled the video of the president saying exactly that, at a public campaign rally before thousands in the crowd and many more watching on news channels.
   Not too long ago, calling someone a liar was too harsh a term to be used in otherwise civil discourse. Mainstream print media rarely, if ever, used the word and broadcast news anchors and commentators apologized up front before showing a video or repeating a quote.
   Now the infamy is gone and the word is commonplace.
   Language changes over time, of course, with new words entering the national vocabulary and others seeing more widespread use in public discourse.
   Whether the use of a particular word is acceptable in public, civil discourse, is a social judgment, not linguistic. But words have power, and overuse can quickly diminish that power. Nevertheless, there are some words whose power deserves respect, and should not be used unless warranted.
   The L word is one of them.