www.alphadictionary.com

While not exactly slang, doublespeak is a way of saying something without actually calling it by its name. Here are some modern examples. Rather political in nature, I know, but very language related.

A lot of hunting in LA. Now and then we hear of "harvesting" deer. In one sense that's accurate. After WWII, the deer herds were almost gone. The Wildlife and Fisheries Department did a great job rebuilding the herds over a number of years. Deer are so plentiful, if enough are not killed, they starve. And you hear plain talk more often: i'm going to shoot a deer, or I hope to kill my limit this trip. And we eat what we kill. My daughter and one f my sons keep ther freezers stocked and eat more deer than beef. Same for squirrels.

Hunting deer in Texas comes in two categories. Low fence deer hunting is what we all used to call just deer hunting. High fence deer hunting is not a real sport at all. The deer are kept behind very high fences so none can jump out or in. They are herded and bred like cattle. During "hunting" season, rich city slickers pay K-bucks (K$) to "hunt" the deer that are driven toward them while they are safe in a elevated deer blind. It is sort of like shooting fish in a barrel.

Aren't those usually exotic deer, not native whitetail?

No. They are whitetail deer. My family farm is surrounded by these high fence monstrosities.

Well, now I know what you are talking about when you write of high-fence "hunting".

. Deer are so plentiful, if enough are not killed, they starve.

I actually heard one of my relatives say this exact thing about people. I am ashamed of this.

M.wet-work(ba-a-a-d) Bailey

Thomas Malthus in the late 1700s believed that the unquenchable urge of humans to reproduce would ultimately lead us to overpopulate the planet, eat up all its resources and die in mass famine. This has not been the case in the human population thus far. Poverty tends to increase the human population while prosperity tends to limit human population growth. The "built in" survival instinct of humans is that, in a state of poverty, one must have as many children as possible to work for survival and replace those who die from poverty and disease. This "built in" tendency is reversed by plenty in that the family unit no longer feels threatened and produces fewer children as a result. In many human societies of the world, population has been controlled by war, famine, infanticide and killing elders who are no longer useful. Hitler called people like me "useless eaters" and would have had me gassed.

In the case of deer, the ranching efforts pretty much ensure lots of deer. Artificial insemination produces superior deer, especially in the size of a buck's rack. Unfortunately it tends to increase numerical growth due to lack of natural enemies. The total eradication of the blow fly in the USA and Mexico was a deliberate attempt to increase the survival rate of deer and cattle. It has worked extremely well. In the high-fence deer ranches, population growth is unchecked. So every year, at the end of deer season, the owner invites non-paying hunters to come on his land and freely kill the excess deer.

High-fence deer ranching creates a gene pool that has to be constantly improved by artificial insemination. The natural denizens of the ranch do not have their gene pool balanced and thus are victims of isolation. Animals that can fly over the fence, crawl through the mesh of the wire or burrow under the fence are less affected. Turkeys and coyotes find themselves in a restricted area with no opportunity to improve their gene pool. Feral hogs, are plentiful and are harvested on the deer ranches but not genetically managed.

The complete destruction of this species is needed to balance the ecosystem. Since we are dealing with animals here, and especially ones that Europeans brought to America where they ran amuck, I feel no compunction to stop their demise. You may know that the introduction of many thousands of hogs into Texas was for them to eat the excess cattle that had been born and not ranched during the Civil War . The cattle, which were of use solely for their hides, were fed to the hogs who could be slaughtered and shipped as hams, bacon, and hog lard. Those commodities were in demand while, tough longhorn cattle meat was not shippable and thus not needed. Then the cattle drives north began and the hogs were abandoned. For years they lived in the river bottoms and in swamps causing nobody any alarm. Lately they threaten agriculture and the growth of other species in Texas and other places in the South.

Daniel Defoe, tongue in cheek, suggested the "Irish problem" of his day could be solved by eating Irish children. Generalized cannibalism as practiced by many Amerinds, particularly by the Aztecs, was a perverted cultural norm that was not aimed at population control. Packing the noses of infants, the elderly, and the unfit with snow and abandoning them was widely practiced by the Eskimo and in their extreme environment deemed a satisfactory solution.

Malthus didn't think of the environmental destruction we are now undergoing. I am not sure how he would suggest we deal with it.

We need a big dose of the "golden rule" and "love thy neighbor as yourself" in this stressful age.

For those of you who have read thus far, thank you for letting me vent my excess righteous indignation about the whole ball of wax.

Since we are ranting ....

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newspeak

Speaking of made up speech and euphemisms may i introduce new speak for those who never read George Orwell's [URL]http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four

plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

M. Can-you-say-PC? Bailey

As the innkeeper's wife said to Caxton, "I have no French." I can use Google though, and your French remark is apt for the occasion.

Speaking of French phrases-We once discussed L'esprit de l'escalier a phrase I use often because it often happens as I age,

M. senescence is not as much fun as I'd hoped Bailey