- For free diagnostic lesson: http://www.lecturesbymarymoore.com/registration-for-trial-class.html
Registration for seminars/workshops: http://www.lecturesbymarymoore.com/registration-for-seminar.html
Website: www.lecturesbymarymoore.com
Definition:A term coined by lexicographer Stuart Flexner to characterize any imprecise expression "used quickly and without much thought, almost as [an] automatic response." (See Examples and Observations, below.)
Examples and Observations:
Also Known As: vagueness, fuzzy words
Source: http://grammar.about.com/od/ab/g/Blurred-Word.htm
- "Jones mumbled a small, blurred word of deference that could have been 'all right' or 'sorry.'"
(Richard Yates, "Thieves." The Collected Stories of Richard Yates. Henry Holt, 2001) - "[Blurred words are] used quickly and without much thought, almost as automatic responses, because they are easily available . . .. The words are not always precise, which is one reason we like them so much. . . . We avoid arguments and fine distinctions we would rather not make."
(Stuart Flexner, Listening to America: An Illustrated History Of Words And Phrases From Our Lively and Splendid Past. Simon & Schuster, 1982) - "[C]ertain acclamatory terms--great, amazing, brilliant, terrific, and wonderful among them--continue to serve as what Stuart Berg Flexner described as 'blurred words' . . .
"For serious word users, it is invention, experimentation, discovery, and open-mindedness that puts the grrr back in terms of acclaim."
(Arthur Plotnik, Better Than Great. Viva, 2011) - Economist Alan Greenspan
"I guess I should warn you: if I turn out to be particularly clear, you've probably misunderstood what I've said."
(Alan Greenspan, addressing the Economic Club of New York, 1988) - Glenn Beck at the Restoring Honor to America Rally
"America is great because America is good. But that's not the entire story. She's not just good because she's good. America is only what we choose her to be. We as individuals must be good so America can be great.
"America is at [a] crossroad and there is a clear and simple choice. Do we choose to just look at the scars? Do we choose to look back? Or do we do what every great generation has done in America in times of trouble, look ahead? Dream about what we're going to become not worried about what we are. Look forward, look West, look to the heavens, look to God and make your choice."
(Glenn Beck, keynote address at the Restoring Honor to America Rally in Washington, D.C., Aug. 28, 2010) - Obituary for Adlai Stevenson
"The immense power of words in the affairs has been demonstrated in our times by the evil influence of Hitler's oratory, and by the spell of Winston Churchill's noble phrases. Of course, words can be empty, dishonest, and deceptive, the political air is full of such. But sincere and well-chosen words are the only paths by which ideas can spread from man to man and from nation to nation, and the light of understanding can break through the fog of suspicion and self-satisfaction. . . .
"Our time is one of blurred words and inarticulate speech; never was the air so full of confused tongues. And yet, never in history was there such a need for clarity and honesty in the communication of ideas, for capacity for civilized and articulate conversation between peoples."
(Eugene Rabinowitch, "Adlai E. Stevenson, 1900-1965." Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Sep. 1965)
Also Known As: vagueness, fuzzy words
Source: http://grammar.about.com/od/ab/g/Blurred-Word.htm