英文阅读：Loaded words
Reader question:What is a loaded word? Please give examples.
My comments:
Loaded words, by definition, are those that have "more meaning, especially
a negative meaning, than you first think" (Longman).
Like a loaded truck, a loaded word or statement is heavy with subtle
connotations. And like a loaded gun, it can be hurtful.
When Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney last month likened
electing Hillary Clinton, a Democrat, to putting an "intern" in the White House,
he used a loaded word.
Yes, you guessed it. "Intern" has become a loaded word in US politics
thanks (and no thanks, according to Hillary) to the well-documented rendezvous
in the Oval Office involving then President Bill Clinton, Hillary's husband, and
Monica Lewinsky, an intern.
In China, "Party member" is said to have become a loaded word, especially
among non members. People, for example, no longer list "Party membership" as a
primary consideration for marriage, as they used to do in the 1960's and 70's.
In fact, people these days are said to bristle at the question: "Are you a Party
member?" That sounds an innocuous question, I know, but somehow some people
sometimes get offended by it. To them, it's a loaded question. Perhaps they have
something to hide. At any rate, it's no use asking me that question. I'm not a
Party member. I'm not even a dancing party member.
Anyways, a loaded question, sometimes known as a leading question, is one
that's designed to lead people to a certain answer. It's unfair. The most
well-known loaded questions are of the type that lawyers ask in court, such as:
"Have you stopped beating your wife yet?" It's the damned-if-you-do,
damned-if-you-don't question that has the defendant pinned and framed. It's
unfair.
Why wife beating, why not husband beating? Aren't armies of Chinese
husbands henpecked anyway? OK. Let's ask the same question again just to be fair
to the fair sex. "Have you stopped beating your husband yet?"
Little use asking, either, because a Chinese wife whose hubby is henpecked
would have a ready answer for that one. They'd reply with their head held high:
"He deserves it."
He "deserves" it? Now, that's another loaded word.
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