Sharing the Math

Warped Wordplay

07 Sep 2011 2 Comments

by ctwfrank in Wordplay Tags: all, ctwfrank, culture, economics, financial crisis, future, humanity, humor, Life, linguistics, philosophy, politics, psychology, society, thoughts

Here’s a unique member of the wordplay word club:  asset.  Wordplay usually occurs to a word that was born with an official dictionary definition but had a completely different one implanted in the public’s mind, by virtue of the intentional manipulation of language.  The word asset, however, broke all the rules.  It was born with the absolute intention of being what it has always been and in order to qualify it as an actual word, a half-assed definition was pieced together for the dictionary.  Asset was born crooked; here’s how.

Forget about what the dictionary says, it’s irrelevant; however if you really want to read it, just click here.  From the moment it was invented and inserted into human language, an asset has been nothing more than a measure of wealth that can justifiably be taken from anyone, legally.  It really is so much easier to attach or garnish one’s assets as opposed to killing them and taking their wallet.

Without a doubt, asset has to be one of the most convenient words ever conceived.  It doesn’t even pass the dictionary “litmus paper test”; for example, every asset has value but not everything of value is an asset.  It very well may have been the first “designer word” and it worked, well.  Suddenly, someone did something that only we humans are capable of:  they screwed up a good thing.  In our rapidly accelerating descent into total idiocy, the already cushy and convenient meaning of the word asset has undergone a wordplay manipulation.  Today, in 2011, those who think they control humanity’s finances don’t feel the need to have to take what they consider to be already theirs; to them, an asset is simply uncollected debt.

Think about it.

We can do better.

ctwfrank