Wooden talk is vague rhetoric used by authoritarian leaders to distract listeners from questioning their decisions. It often includes weasel words to appeal to emotions rather than rationality, and is compared to propaganda. The term “word weasel” comes from Shakespearean language.
Wooden talk is a certain type of rhetoric that consists of vague words and the underlying purpose of maintaining political correctness, often at the expense of finding real solutions to specific problems. These kinds of ambiguous words are sometimes used in the speeches of national leaders who are responsible for authoritarian governments, and the overall impression on the listeners is one of false meaning. Other features of woody speech often include high rates of subjectivity and the use of at least one weasel keyword intended to appeal to listeners’ emotions or fears rather than their rationality.
The main purpose of a wooden speech is usually to persuade with the same basic technique of logical rhetoric, but without the depth of meaning or even sincerity. The sentences used in this type of language are often trivial and deal with tangential topics rather than important issues. Leaders who use wooden talk in this context often aim to distract their audience with this type of speech to prevent them from questioning the leaders’ decisions. This type of distraction is often successful because it addresses listeners’ concerns about real or perceived threats to their countries’ security.
Ambiguous words in this type of language are sometimes compared to those used in certain forms of propaganda. This language is often intended to get listeners to unquestioningly follow a certain agenda or belief system. The exact patterns that woodspeech follows can vary from one speaker to another, but the overall feel of the words is one that feels hollow and artificial.
A weasel word is a conspicuous feature of woody speech because it is usually a word that elicits a desired response from an attentive listening audience. Weasel words are often used in conjunction with couching terms such as “until” or “generally” in order to avoid statements that could potentially alienate some listeners. Alienating any member of the audience is a situation most Woody-speaking speakers avoid whenever possible in the name of political correctness. These type of weasel word sentences can sometimes be subtle due to their purpose of creating a false impression of importance. The particular term “word weasel” can be traced to a figure of speech that first appeared in some of William Shakespeare’s plays and was intended to compare a given speech to an empty eggshell after a weasel had some ate the contents.
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