Exhausted Words

The New Words Project is not just about about finding language that permits reasonable discussion. It's also dedicated to sensitizing people to avoid specific words that have exhausted their generally understood meaning.

Exhausted words sound familiar, but they are no longer useful in public discourse because they have been successfully appropriated into a conservative frame. (A frame is a conceptual structure used in thinking. You can read more about framing in the work of George Lakoff.)

By using such words, you are reinforcing the frame, even when trying to negate it. Thoughful progressives and other people who do not want to support the conservative mindset should avoid these words.

I'm collecting exhausted words, and plan to define them in contradictory ways that highlight how they have been emptied or made deceptive. Use the comment feature to suggest more exhausted words for this list or offer definitions.

Abortion
Activist Judges
Agenda
Balanced Budget
Class Warfare
Clear Skies
Cut and Run
Death Tax
Defense of Marriage
Entitlements
Environment
Evildoer
Fair and Balanced
Faith-Based
Family Values
Freedom-fighter
Fivolous Lawsuits
Gay Marriage
Global Warming
God
Gulf War
Gun Control
Hate Language
Healthy Forests
Illegal Alien
Incursion
Jobs
Justice
Liberal
Liberal Media
Litmus Test
Logging
Mandate
Marriage Penalty
Morality
No Child Left Behind
Oil
Patriot
Peace and Justice
Pledge of Allegiance
Politically Correct
Pollution
Pre-Emptive
Profits
Quagmire
Quotas
Reaganomics
Regime-change
Rogue Nation
Sanctions
Second Amendment
Social Security (Reform)
Special Interests
Tax and Spend
Tax Relief
Terrorist
Tolerance
Tort Refrom
Trial Lawyers
Values
Vouchers
Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs)