Language under Prescription

The context:

July 24 (Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp., the world’s largest software maker, offered to include rival Web browsers in the Windows operating system to settle a European Union antitrust case.

Microsoft accepted a key European Commission demand that it give consumers a choice of browsers through a so-called ballot screen, the commission said in a statement today in Brussels. The company also offered to resolve a second antitrust case over word-processing and spreadsheet software.

And here is how Microsoft itself comments on the above:

“This would mark a big step forward in addressing a decade of legal issues and would be good news for European consumers and our partners in the industry,” Brad Smith, Microsoft general counsel, said in a statement.

There is nothing stupendously wrong with the above and I certainly have no wish to join the serried ranks of Microsoft bashers. What I want to do, though, is to draw attention to the way words are used not so much to falsify facts as to deaden their impact. Rather as we take painkillers to relieve our aches and pains.

• Address sounds more neutral and objective than "deal with" or "bring an end to". Companies are forever "addressing issues".
• Issue. Again, "issue" sounds so much more measured and reasonable than "problem" or "crisis". It neatly does away with the notion of "mistake".
• Partner. This word has now become devoid of any meaning and can even be used to denote a competitor or enemy!

With all due respect to George Orwell, I think the worst instances of doublespeak today are to be found, not in government and politics, but in the world of business and advertising. And the effect is far more invidious.