Finding snakes

“The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes look for them behind words that have changed their meaning,” a wise man once wrote.

Unlike many people I know, I have no aversion to snakes. In fact, I quite like them although I do have a healthy dose of respect for them, which helps me keep my distance whenever I encounter one — of either the literal or the figurative variety. I also have a strong liking for words, and a healthy dose of caution because of their power to change minds, souls, and worlds.

Language has been a primary weapon of the transition army and one its soldiers have been using to distraction because it has been so effective — due to this snake-like nature of semantics. And to the ease of use.

Here’s one recent example: “Wind and solar power generation in the European Union increased by 46% from 2019, when the current European Commission took office, to 2023, displacing a fifth of the bloc's fossil fuel generation, a report by think tank Ember showed.”

At first glance, this is nothing more and nothing less than regular Reuters reporting. At second glance, you would discern the notable absence of the factors that drove this “displacement”, namely massive subsidies for wind and solar, and punitive taxes for hydrocarbon generators. What we have here, is a snake nest.

Or how about this little gem of reputable-sounding drivel from LSE Group subsidiary FTSE Russell: Evaluating national climate commitments using implied temperature rise.

What on earth might an “implied temperature rise” mean, one wonders upon coming across the phrase. Is it serious? Because it sure sounds serious, expertey, and very important. Except it isn’t. It’s drivel. There’s been a lot of that flapped around in hopes of making it stick. And stuck it has. So there’s going to be more.