The Great Whistleblower

Astute philologists have long argued (and not without reason!) that any language is a much more complex and unpredictable mechanism than its speakers believe in the simplicity of their souls. You can easily see this by reading Victor Klemperer’s brilliant book “The Language of the Third Reich” - a book whose work helped the Jewish author not only survive in Nazi Germany, but also reveal ways in which one can even predict the future from simple observations of everyday language .

But let’s not look far for other people’s examples; we have plenty of our own. Has anyone recorded the moment of emergence and rapid spread of the simple phrase “as if” in modern speech? No, it's a pity. It turns out that “great, free and powerful,” in addition to the mentioned qualities, is also quite insightful, sensitive and cunning. The language itself suggested what kind of society is emerging in our vast expanses - with, as it were, capitalists, as if parliament, as if with politicians and as if with state symbols, and even with, as it were, men. But this is not the only hint that our native speech gives us. The general ignorance of when to use “not” and when to use “neither” reflects the mental state of individuals who do not understand what needs to be firmly denied and what needs to be strengthened. The expression “to impose taxes”, which took root in the press and then in oral speech (for example, Irina Khakamada in the recent “Press Club”), is also very symptomatic. Until now, in the Russian language, taxes were imposed, and wolves were marked with red flags when hunting. But since the state’s attitude towards the taxpayer is appropriate, the term has changed.

I will not focus on the phrase that is becoming commonplace: “don’t be surprised that...; assured that...; understood, that...”. A brilliant example of eloquence was given by the great literate speaker Gennady Seleznev: “Deputies, do not be surprised that dogs have appeared in the Duma.” I won’t because it is not yet clear to me what clue language gives us in this way.

The most striking example is the confusion of the verbs “to give” and “to betray.” The newspapers spoke with one voice - give it publicity, give it publicity! Even the extraordinary writer Vyacheslav Pietsukh in his last book “Russian Jokes” writes: “Give this hypothesis publicity.” What is the commission? But everything is very simple. In our country now, publicizing information from the lives of the main characters in a performance means in practice a direct call to hand them over to the prosecutor's office, to bring them to trial, and finally, simply to hand them over. However, there are still pitiful remnants of the concept that betrayal is not a very plausible act. And language helps, with the help of a monophonic (but not unambiguous!) verb, to displace the feeling of shame. On the other hand, what difference does it make which verb to use if you yourself are being used?

No, still great and powerful... But also cunning!