Do Words Ever Fool You? (1948)

Bill adds another letter and makes a new word now It's Judy's turn to add a new letter and make still another word can you think of a word yes words can fool us and in more ways than one take this word what does it mean what does it mean to you this word fooled Jerry just the other day Jerry will you bring me the paper from the hall table all right Dad that's easy dad brings home a newspaper every evening he usually reads it at about this time not the newspaper I want the typewriter paper I left downstairs that's different dad was thinking paper for typewriting Jerry was thanking paper for reading but the only word used was paper and the word fooled them here's another simple word what does it mean to you make a mental picture of a plane is this what you pictured or is this what you had in mind take another word do you realize that this word means something different to almost every one of us the word home is one name for these various places it's also the name of an idea the idea of the way you live with your family at home yes words can have different meanings for different people for example this is home to Jerry and Judy but it's not home to bill now from the radio send your order today for these powerful binoculars you've seen them advertised in all the magazines these powerful binoculars really put you up in the front line Jerry has wanted a pair of binoculars for some time and these seem to be just the thing powerful here is what Jerry is thinking powerful means this summer I'll be able to tell whose boat is way out in the middle of the lake that's the picture Jerry has in mind Judy too was interested in the binoculars what is she thinking powerful then they'll help me to see the colors and markings on birds and animals when I go hiking through the woods and what about Bill I could use some powerful binoculars to study the planets and stars so Jerry and Judy and Bill have three different ideas of what is meant by powerful binoculars and Jerry is sending for them after a while the binoculars arrive they were advertised as being powerful are they let's see what can we use in testing them there's Bill's house that'll do now how much bigger will the House appear why hardly any bigger there'll be little help at the lake in seeing the boats no the binoculars certainly are not powerful according to what Jerry thinks the word powerful means now Judy is eager to try the binoculars and she seems satisfied they'll help her to study the birds and the animals in the woods they are just about as powerful as she thought they'd be from across the street Bill saw Jerry looking through the binoculars now it's his turn to look because he was hoping to use them to study the planets and stars we only Judy is satisfied with the binoculars Jerry and Bill feel that they aren't what the ad promised but just what did the ad say powerful streamlined these words are modifiers and modifiers can be especially confusing as we have seen now is there anything we can do to guard against being fooled by such words let's see let's go back to the simple word paper and the way it fooled Jerry when his father asked for the paper Jerry assumed he met newspaper but doesn't father usually read the newspaper downstairs since he's upstairs in his study he probably wants the typewriter paper and of course there's one way to be sure Dad which paper do you mean I mean that typewriter paper I brought home yes we can save ourselves a lot of trouble by making sure we understand each other but how could Judy and the bful me in this case they couldn't ask the radio announcer and the ad itself didn't give any further explanation do you suppose they deliberately used the word powerful a modifier that means different things to different people you mean they didn't want us to know too much about the binoc I don't think so it's maybe you're right remember Judy dad told us that sometimes people use words in tricky ways on purpose he showed us a newspaper here it is look at this yes take a good look at this headline now what do you think of Mayor Stewart that he is a dishonest man that may be what the editor of the paper wants you to think but he doesn't quite say so there's a question mark when you read the full story you find that someone expressed a personal opinion but many people read only the headlines and so they are easily led to believe that the mayor is a dishonest man this is name calling another way that words can fool us and name calling is not confined to newspapers take the day after school when Bill discovered that his bicycle chain was broken Harold came along and offered to help fix it but Bill wasn't too eager to accept because Harold was known among his schoolmates as a dope then Frank and Walter arrived Frank was known around school as a wizard he pitched in to fix the chain this was the help bill was looking for he wanted no help from Harold so Harold headed for home wondering why Bill had rejected his offer of help and accepted Frank's words playing tricks again Frank had a reputation marked by the word wizard Harold had a reputation marked by the word dope actually Bill knew very little about either boy but he had heard people call them these names and he formed his opinions accordingly without bothering to find out for himself and he was fooled Frank was unable to repair the chain this set Bill to wondering whether Frank really was a wizard and if not maybe Harold wasn't a hope maybe bill should find out about a person instead of falling into the easy habit of name calling here's the trouble when you saw the ad you only read the headline powerful you didn't find out the detailed you can read the whole ad and not find out anymore I know one thing what the ad says about the binoculars isn't true it is so true at least the binoculars are just what I thought they'd be ah I never believe ads I always believe them here you can see for yourself and we can see that Judy Bill and Jerry are having more word trouble true and untrue always and never love and hate such extreme words are dangerous because they lead us to think there are only only two possible courses of thought or action whereas actually I think the answer is somewhere in the middle some ads give accurate information and other ads lead you to expect too much some ways this binocular ad is true and some ways it's not true depends on what each of us expected when we read the word powerful anyway I'd be better off if I'd found out ahead of time just what they meant by powerful yes we'll be better off in many ways if we we know how to keep words from playing tricks by confusing us think if you hear or use extreme words like true or untrue are other words of this sort remember that there is a lot of room in between these two extremes avoid name calling don't let a nickname trick you into forming a quick and possibly faulty opinion of a classmate or new acquaintance consider the purpose for which words are used when you use words be sure the other person understands what you mean and you understand what the other person means we use words by the thousands every day let's use them thoughtfully when we write and talk let's be alert to the varied meanings of words when we read and listen thus can we lessen the danger of being fooled by [Music] words [Music]