verbage

Categories: life

1 Comment »

I recently realized how some words just morph meaning due to, well, correctness and incorrectness. Today I heard a co-worker say, “They got raped on the packaging prices.” Which I assumed to mean something like they had to pay more than they should have rather than the packaging prices forcing themselves onto them.

So while it’s okay to say “They got raped on packaging prices,” it’s not okay to say, “Kobe Bryant is accused of raping a 19 year old girl” because, well, you just can’t say that on CNN. Rather, it has to be “Kobe Bryant is accused of sexually assaulting a 19 year old girl.” Somehow, saying “raped” is no longer allowed on TV unless it deals with something non-sexual, but it’s perfectly fine to say when talking about everything else.

One Response to “verbage”

  1. 25 Jul 2003 at 4:04:18 AM CaliScrub

    I haven’t heard the word “rape” in a long time on network TV in a situation NOT involving a court case.

    I agree with the post for the most part, though.