Intellectuals Controlling the Language

Words which have acquired particular connotations over the years from the experiences of millions of people in successive generations now have those connotations systematically stripped away by a relatively small number of contemporary intellectuals, who simply substitute different words for the same things until the new words replace the old in the media.  Thus “bums” has been replaced by “the homeless,” “swamps” by “wetlands,” and “prostitutes” by “sex workers,” for example.

All things that generations of people have learned from experience about bums, swamps, and prostitutes are in effect erased by substitution of new words, cleansed of those connotations.  Swamps, for example, are often unsightly, slimy, and smelly places, where mosquitoes breed and spread diseases.  Sometimes swamps are also places where dangerous creatures like snakes or alligators lurk.  But “wetlands” are spoken of in hushed and reverential tones, as one might speak of shrines.

Thomas Sowell, Intellectuals and Society, p.217