Words

You may have missed the story about expanding gambling on Kickapoo Indian land in Texas. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has sided with Texas in rejecting a proposal for Las Vegas-style gambling at the Kickapoo’s casino at Eagle Pass on the Texas-Mexico border. It’s one more step in a years’ long fight between Texas and the U.S. Interior Department over regulation of gambling.

But I come not to write about this issue but words. At the center of the dispute is the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. I don’t know when gambling became gaming, but gaming is the word used repeatedly by pro-gambling interests when they meet with the Star-Telegram’s Editorial Board. Such a minor change – and yet so major. Somewhere, someone who probably makes a lot more per hour than I decided that since so many people object to gambling, perhaps a softer word needs to be used. Thus, gaming.

Some changes in language use make sense. But some are worrisome. When the language becomes too soft, misunderstanding arises and the words become fuzzy if not meaningless.

Many singers change a word in the lyrics of The Battle Hymn of the Republic. It was written “As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free.” Now it is often sung: “... let us live to make men free.” The argument is that we are not soldiers and the change more properly describes the present day. But it changes the meaning of the phrase and delivers a message much, much weaker than the resolve Julia Ward Howe was describing.

Shakespeare asked: “What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” True, but if we called it something else long enough, say, something distasteful. we’ll forget the meaning of the original word.

-- Paul K. Harral, Editor of the Editorial Page