View from the North 40: It's about words, all the way down

I stumbled across an old bookmark on my web browser to a 2014 article about 69 words and phrases General Motors executives told employees not to use in descriptions of GM automobiles, which were experiencing undisclosed problems due to a faulty ignition switch which ended up causing vehicle crashes for more than a decade – serious crashes, causing life-threatening and permanent injuries and even deaths.

Corporate scandal, a language ban that includes the words “always,” “chaotic,” “rolling sarcophagus” and “you’re toast” – no, I’m not kidding – how did I not write about this six years ago? Like that awesome coat from high school that you have saved at the back of the closet, let’s dust this treasure off and parade it around the room for a bit.

In case you don’t remember, GM was using a faulty ignition switch in some of their cars, which under the right conditions would shut of the car and disengage to the air bags – even while the car was being driven down the street, road or interstate. The last tally I read reported 97 deaths and many more injuries.

What made the issue worse is that as early as 2001, a Vox.com article says, GM officials knew something was causing a problem in one model of car, but rejected a new, sturdier design because of costs. By 2006, Their own accident research drove them to make a new part, but they didn’t give it a new number, so some cars got the corrected part, but others, well, meh, what’s a little death and dismemberment among customers.

And life went on, as did the deaths, until the massive recall starting in January 2014 involving many millions of vehicles, many millions of dollars, a few lawsuits and so on and so forth, amounting to very serious business.

In May 2014, Time along with other news organizations, reported that among the documents released as part of GM’s $35 million settlement with the U.S. government was a company presentation given to employees in 2008 on how to dodge a PR nightmare, by avoiding certain words and phrases in documents and correspondence.

Among the tips were to avoid equating GM automobiles to the “Titanic” and the “Hindenburg,” which makes sense – the Titanic went down in water and the Hindenburg blew up first, then wrecked.

Lots of death-related words were not allowed, such as “deathtrap,” “life-threatening” and “widow-maker,” but also “asphyxiating,” “decapitating,” “rolling sarcophagus,” “suffocating” and “suicidal” along with “annihilate,” “apocalyptic” and “catastrophic.”

Some of them made sense in an everyday sort of way, like don’t say “defect” or “defective,” “safety related” or “unstable,” because these words will have specific definitions when determining liability. But “grenade-like”? “Evil”? “Words of phrases with biblical connotation”? “Kevorkianesque” – as in Kevorkian, the doctor who was euthanizing people who were close to death? That imagery indicates a whole new level of trouble.

A spokesperson for the company told Reuters in 2014 that management had learned its lesson and rather than ban language, they are following a “Speak Up for Safety Program” protocol. One would hope.

What’s the take-away, then? Words matter? Yep.

And if you’re thinking of banning words or controlling what others say, maybe you should be reassessing your own words, actions and policies.

Like that saying my mother told me when I was a kid: Remember that when you point your finger at someone else, you have three more fingers pointed back at you.

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Be like the librarians – warriors for words – at [email protected].