WORDS have all but lost their meaning in this new era where enviro-socialists seek to earn a living by frightening school kids out of their minds. 

While being labelled a “racist” these days is akin to a compliment, it’s the official use of exaggerated language that’s causing real harm and distress. 

Words that were once reserved for real emergencies – think war and significant loss of life – are now pretty much used to describe a sausage sizzle.

CATACLYSMIC

Not so long ago “very high” was the highest fire danger level appearing on road-side signage. But thanks to “cataclysmic” exaggeration, “very high” doesn’t even rank in the top half these days (see graphic below).

At the risk of labouring a point, it also appears that modern enviro-socialists deem “moderate” as having the exact same meaning as “low”.

The public sector trend towards promoting fear by exaggeration started to become noticeable around the time “very high” was bumped from the top spot to be replaced by “severe”.

Then, when “severe” became bland, they replaced it with “extreme”. Then their latest buzz word “catastrophic” arrived to take top spot.

While the morning TV luvvies have embraced the “C” word and can’t repeat it enough, surely our modern doomsday alarmists can do better than this.

Where’s the fun if the kids aren’t completely frightened out of their minds.

To start, every one of these signs needs to be digitised and wifi-enabled so they can be instantly updated with the latest scare word of the day.

The word “very” needs to be used liberally and where ever it will fit. And, where it makes sense to do so, throw in the word “global” as much as possible – as in “global armageddon”.

MEANING

So a cold wet winter day can now be classified as a “very, very high” fire risk – the lowest category indicated by green. And a warmish spring morning will now be classified as a “cataclysmic” threat. That ought to raise Greta’s blood pressure.

And at some point soon we’ll be in need of a new language. One that conveys some form of basic meaning.PC