"So Hungry I Could Eat a Horse"

What is all the fuss over some horse meat found in thousands of frozen lasagnas in Britain? If you love horses, well that's a different story. Poor old Black Beauty!

Yum! That Looks Good!

Lots of people eat horse meat. The Italians love it in their Mortadella sausages, the French serve it in Paris - Steak Hache said the menu! Plenty is eaten in Central Asia. When I lived in Belgium we went shopping in the boucheries chevelalines for Steak Tartare - raw horse meat with lots of seasoning - I think!

There is always the difficult problem of contamination. Remember the recent controversy at XL Foods Inc., Lakeside Packers in Western Canada for example.

Even though the Brits ate horse meat during WWII the fact is they don't want it now. The real problem as I see it is Findus calling horse meat beef - Findus Beef Lasagne. And there lies the problem. How often are we openly deceived in the thousands of advertisements we see on packaging and TV? How often are we reckless in the way we use the English language? Words have power and words can also be slippery slopes. 

"Slovenly language corrodes the mind," said John Q. Adams.

I recently witnessed a discussion where the participants were obviously confused in their use of the words 'law' and 'rule'.  They used the words interchangeably in their discussions. Obviously, the conclusion to their exchange did not make a lot of sense. Rules are guides of conduct. When you play golf you follow the rules. You must keep them in a tournament if you want to continue to participate. But on a Saturday afternoon what are a few mulligans among friends? Will you be arrested and expelled from the golf club? Probably not, but you may lose a few golfing buddies if you call mulligans too often! Laws on the other hand are binding and in some cases can have serious penalties attached to them. Speed on the highway and you will have to pay a serious financial penalty if caught. Nevertheless we often use these two words as if they meant the exact same thing.

However, whether it is horse meat, or cattle meat what's the difference, both are meat! Try telling that to the Brits!

Where this fuzzy use of our language really breaks down is in the apparent failure to achieve solutions that are acceptable to both parties. Things are often said as if the statement is an absolute proven fact, when it is not. Weasel words, that change the actual meaning, are tossed into the discussion making matters worse. For example, we speak about the government of Canada as if it is one man, or at least one party. I always thought that when we elect any member they become part of the government. If not, why elect them?  Thus deception, misdirection, fact-bending and half-truths become the language of discussion. And then we wonder why compromise is so difficult or why it is seen as a "dirty" word. 

Perhaps a recent Huffington Press article was correct when it stated some people lie because they are narcissists - afraid they will lose their job, (or get 'thrown under the bus' as they say in Ottawa), they are arrogant, self-important, see themselves as special, have a need to be admired or even have, after a while, a sense of entitlement. I even heard it said that if a lie is told often enough people will believe it!

We all make mistakes and mine is I have no right to speak for all! But at the same time it takes courage to be open and honest, even when we make mistakes. I don't profess to be a rhetorician, but I do my best to stay grounded in the truth.

And that's Dick's View of the World this Week