It is useful when considering politics, including racial politics and sexual politics, to be aware of cheer words and boo words. As an example of a cheer word, the philosopher Jamie Whyte gives “justice”, where “what it means is not perfectly clear but, whatever someone takes it to mean, he will think it’s a good thing”.[1] Boo words are the opposite of cheer words, an example being “racism”. What this means is not entirely clear, but whatever it is, it’s bad.[2]
The sort of meaning that is unclear in cheer words and boo words is what the linguist Geoffrey Leech calls conceptual meaning, which is meaning as we normally think of it: that which tells us what a word denotes. It contrasts with various other sorts of meaning, including what Leech calls affective meaning, which expresses the speaker’s attitude to what is being talked about.[3] It is characteristic of cheer words and boo words that while their conceptual meanings are elusive and weak, their affective meanings — positive for cheer words and negative for boo words — are evident and strong, so strong in many cases as to overwhelm their conceptual meanings. Thus even if one were to specify, no matter how carefully and laboriously, a concept of racism that made racism excusable, one would not get far using the word in this sense, which would be defeated by the word’s negative affective meaning. This is as certain as it is that no matter how one defined justice, any argument saying that this was something a society could have too much of would fail because of the word’s positive affective meaning. The tendency of cheer words and boo words to elicit a cheer or a boo is built into them, and there is nothing anyone can do about it.
It follows that cheer and boo words are of little use in rational conversation unless their conceptual meanings are specified — and, for practical purposes, specified in such a way as to line up with their affective meanings. Otherwise it will be impossible for anyone to be sure, or at least for everyone to agree, what is being discussed, while their affective meanings will arouse emotions not necessarily grounded in any conceptual material that might have been conveyed. If you want to be understood, it is better to use words with known and accepted conceptual meanings. If you do not want to be understood, on the other hand, but wish to befuddle and mislead, perhaps because you are a politician or a demagogue, you will find cheer words and boo words just the ticket. They enable you to gain support without saying anything or to get your audience to cry out against things you have not identified.
The sort of meaning that is unclear in cheer words and boo words is what the linguist Geoffrey Leech calls conceptual meaning, which is meaning as we normally think of it: that which tells us what a word denotes. It contrasts with various other sorts of meaning, including what Leech calls affective meaning, which expresses the speaker’s attitude to what is being talked about.[3] It is characteristic of cheer words and boo words that while their conceptual meanings are elusive and weak, their affective meanings — positive for cheer words and negative for boo words — are evident and strong, so strong in many cases as to overwhelm their conceptual meanings. Thus even if one were to specify, no matter how carefully and laboriously, a concept of racism that made racism excusable, one would not get far using the word in this sense, which would be defeated by the word’s negative affective meaning. This is as certain as it is that no matter how one defined justice, any argument saying that this was something a society could have too much of would fail because of the word’s positive affective meaning. The tendency of cheer words and boo words to elicit a cheer or a boo is built into them, and there is nothing anyone can do about it.
It follows that cheer and boo words are of little use in rational conversation unless their conceptual meanings are specified — and, for practical purposes, specified in such a way as to line up with their affective meanings. Otherwise it will be impossible for anyone to be sure, or at least for everyone to agree, what is being discussed, while their affective meanings will arouse emotions not necessarily grounded in any conceptual material that might have been conveyed. If you want to be understood, it is better to use words with known and accepted conceptual meanings. If you do not want to be understood, on the other hand, but wish to befuddle and mislead, perhaps because you are a politician or a demagogue, you will find cheer words and boo words just the ticket. They enable you to gain support without saying anything or to get your audience to cry out against things you have not identified.
