Language usage

Editor:

Recently a group of Hispanic lawyers sought to get the Arizona Supreme Court to exclude the use of the phrase “illegal immigrant” from state court proceedings.

Hopefully, the judges will see through this legal maneuver for what it is — a fraud on our legal system. A blatant attempt, if you will, to manipulate the language used in the court to increase the chances for the drug smugglers, the chronic border crossers, and MS-13 gang members from Guatemala to beat the rap, so to speak.

This attempt to suborn the law is just one of many which seeks to manipulate public opinion through the use of language.

The most obvious one of which is the use of the phrase “undocumented worker” instead of “illegal immigrant” to describe those who cross our border illegally.

Words are important. They mean something.

Is a drug smuggler an undocumented worker? Or, a people smuggler? Or, a gang member? I don’t think so!

English is a descriptive language rich in American idioms.

We should not be fooled by those who misuse it to satisfy ends that are inimical to us or our legal system.

If I may paraphrase Gertrude Stein, a Hemingway colleague, who is alleged to have said in commenting on the use of language “a rose is a rose is a rose,” “an illegal is an illegal is an illegal.”

Sherman Frey, Green Valley