Loaded Language

1
Loaded Language
This is emotional or biased language that must be
stripped away if we are to understand an argument
clearly.
2
Euphemism
Jennys dog passed away. The brave little
animal didnt quite make it through the night.
3

• What do these words or phrases really mean?
• Downsizing
• Defence
• Senior Citizen
• Learning Difficulties
• Jobseeker
• Affirmative Action

4
Emotive Language
People who are against abortion describe
themselves as pro-life. They are against the
murder of unborn babies.
5
People in favour of legal abortion describe
themselves as pro-choice. They believe that
pregnant women should have the right to choose
the termination of their foetus.
6
Jargon
What is a soil management solution? What is a
rodent operator? What is a bilateral probital
heamatoma?
7
Loaded Questions
Do you still beat your wife? Where did you hide
the money you stole? Are you really going to
vote for that idiot Obama? Would you be a nice
guy and lend me 5?
8
Click the image to see Madeleine Albright being
tricked into answering a loaded question.
Albright later wrote I must have been crazy I
should have answered the question by reframing it
and pointing out the inherent flaws in the
premise behind it. As soon as I had spoken, I
wished for the power to freeze time and take back
those words. My reply had been a terrible
mistake, hasty, clumsy, and wrong. I had fallen
into a trap and said something that I simply did
not mean. That is no ones fault but my own.