Words shape reality, and I wonder how things would be in the states if newspapers there used "invest" instead of "spend" when they report on government projects. After all, who likes to spend anything? Maybe all those libertarians in Charlotte would finally shut up if we called the light-rail an investment. Well, probably not, since they hate spending money on principle.
But how would the repubicans fare if we said the government was investing in afterschool programs, public transit and education? Would it be as easy for them to cut programs for the poor or public works?
Spanish has a way of tearing away the veneer of English words and getting right at the heart of things. For instance, sprawl is called "desorganisacion urbana." We ought to be using the same precise language when we fight powerful developers who want to plop their stripmalls and freeways in our cities.
We are still trying to learn, and hope to make more sense of the language. I think I'm starting to like it.
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