Word salad


Word salad is a term applied to rants that completely fly off the rails of normal grammar and meaning.

We control what
you think with
Language
Said and done
Jargon, buzzwords, slogans
v - t - e
“”The film is nothing more than the cart issues, wishes ramp and that lashbone, be hydrodash-tower, and cramp seven lash. Milbord zakt feebled-seven, tilsubatidemisemistupan.
—Terry Bruge-Hiplo, Movie Reviews[1]


Not your typical deli salad

The most obvious example, of course, is the Time Cube website. Many other people manage to diverge into what "looks like" a human language, but on deeper exploration (called "reading") proves to be utter nonsense.

Someone's rant may be called "word salad" if their beliefs are so extreme that their screed appears nonsensical to the average person. Incels and members of the autistic dark web are examples of people whose manifestos may be dubbed word salad.

Mental disorders

If a usually coherent person begins speaking in word salad, this is usually a sign they need to see a doctor, sometimes urgently. Word salad (schizophasiaFile:Wikipedia's W.svg) can be a sign of:[2]

Toxic word salads

"Word salad" can also colloquially refer to a type of gaslighting in which an abuser jumps rapidly from one topic to the next, making many accusations and moving on before the target can defend themselves.[5][6] The goal is to deflect, confuse, and silence. While this is frequently described as an issue in abusers who have narcissistic personality disorder, any abuser (regardless of diagnosis) is capable of doing this.

This is different from typical word salad because the abuser's misuse of language is strategic. They are using it to browbeat someone, not attempting to earnestly express themselves (or just goof off).

Just having fun

Word salad generators are sometimes written by beginning programmers for the sake of amusement.

Examples
  • The useless quotes terrorize useless quotes
  • Her useless quotes terrorize useless quotes
  • My useless quotes terrorize useless quotes
  • His useless quotes terrorize useless quotes
  • Their useless quotes terrorize useless quotes
gollark: You can queue fake key events, but *not* read the prime it prints.
gollark: I checked.
gollark: Also you can't auto-uninstall it with prime factorization.
gollark: ... why?
gollark: Why are you making this? Is everyone suddenly obsessed with potatOS uninstallation?

See also

References
  1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuUM4rgcexA
  2. Word salad
  3. http://www.strokeassociation.org/STROKEORG/WarningSigns/Stroke-Warning-Signs-and-Symptoms_UCM_308528_SubHomePage.jsp
  4. http://www.webmd.com/stroke/signs-of-stroke#1
  5. How to Deal With Narcissistic Word Salad - Cherilyn Christen Clough
  6. What is the "word salad" that narcissists often use during conversations? - Quora
This language-related article is a stub.
You can help RationalWiki by expanding it.
This article is issued from Rationalwiki. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.