WAR…HUH! What is it good for? Absolutely nothin ’

1. WAR…HUH! What is it good for? Absolutely nothin’ Except Language Change… For which it’s quite handy Edwin Starr

2. WAR…HUH! What is it good for? Absolutely nothin’ • How many words in the semantic field of war can you name? • These need to be technical terms, not descriptive ones such as terror or death • Here’s two: • Bomber • Genocide

3. AIMS: • To learn key dates and neologisms. • To consider how different wars have affected the English Language • To evaluate the role of euphemisms and the language of war

4. World War I • The First World War, began in 1914 and lasted until 1918. • It was called The Great War and The War to End All Wars. • Approximately 10,000,000 people died, just under 10% of them British soldiers. • The vast majority of casualties were soldiers.

5. World War I – a visual history of language change Men lived in trenches They went Over the Top They got injuries to take them home to Blighty(UK), called Blighties They suffered from Shell Shock

6. Read the article: The trench talk that is now entrenched in the English language • What do you learn about the way The First World War influenced language change?

7. The Second World War • The Second World War was fought between 1939-1945, when the Allies defeated the Axis powers of Japan, Italy and Nazi Germany. • Over 60,000,000 died, but this time the majority of casualties were civilians. • Why?

8. Civilian Deaths – new words for new ways to suffer British children were lucky enough to become Evacuees The Germans introduced Blitzkrieg, Lighting War The American Atom Bombs on Japan ended the war (1945) The Nazis created Concentration Camps (1940) to complete the Holocaust Some of these words existed before these dates, but they reached public awareness due to these dates. Concentration camps were made by the British. A Holocaust was used to expel the Jews from England in the 13th Century

9. War is the health of euphemism(Paul Greenberg, 2011) • On the following slides you will see some upsetting images. • What aspect of war is being presented? • You will then see the words. Discuss: • How is the language euphemistic? • Who does this benefit?

10. People being killed or wounded = Collateral Damage (1961) How is the language euphemistic? Who does this benefit?

11. Bombing = Air Activity How is the language euphemistic? Who does this benefit?

12. Bombing = Limited kinetic operations (US Government, 2011) How is the language euphemistic? Who does this benefit?

13. Genocide = Ethnic cleansing How is the language euphemistic? Who does this benefit?

14. Read the article: WMDs, IEDs, DHS: how the Iraq war transformed the English language • Reflect in the box titled: What is the relationship between war and euphemisms?

15. Reflect in the box titled: What different factors have made 20th Century wars important factors in language change?

16. Have we achieved our Aims? • To learn key dates and neologisms. • To consider how different wars have affected the English Language • To evaluate the role of euphemisms and the language of war