For some weird reason I like “word counts” and the new “word clouds” used to illustrate the most frequently used words and phrases politicians and others use in their speeches and in describing what comes to mind when certain issues are brought up.
For example, during the 2012 Presidential campaign, the New York Times kept track of the number of times speakers at both National Conventions used certain words and phrases.
One of the surprises to me was the fact that Democratic Convention speakers used the words and phrases “military, armed forces, troops, service members, veterans, military families and Afghanistan” 45 times and Republicans only eight times per 25,000 words spoken.
Well, on the eve of “sequestration,” Gallup conducted a poll asking their sample what word would come to their mind if the budget sequester took place on March 1 as scheduled.
The results — surprise? — “Americans are much more likely to use negative words or phrases — including “bad,” “disaster,” and “God help us” — than positive ones to describe their views on the federal government budget sequester.”
Gallup adds:
The 44% giving a negative response is similar to the 45% of Americans who told Gallup in the same survey that they want their representative in Congress to vote to avert the cuts. And the 35% who give a neutral or a positive response aligns with the 37% who favored letting the budget sequestration go into effect as scheduled.
OK, but what are some of the other words Americans in the poll used most often to describe what comes to mind if the budget sequestration takes place?
Well, Gallup reports that “’Bad’ is the most frequently mentioned negative word, at 5%, and ‘good’ the most frequently used positive word, at 4%. After these two, Americans were most likely to say ‘disaster,’ ‘God help us,’ ‘hopeful,’ ‘trouble,’ ‘disappointed,’ and ‘stupid.’”
When one takes a very close look at the “word cloud,” one will see words such as “Oh crap,” “Sucks,” ‘Whatever” and one rather large “Profanity” which probably covers a rather big number and variety of “choice words.”
Anyway, take a look at the “cloud” here and if you eyes are like mine, have a magnifying glass ready.
You might discover additional “choice words” aptly describing this “unmitigated and totally unnecessary crap of a political disaster.” (Oops! Probably too many words to fit in “the cloud.”)
Image: www.shutterstock.com
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.