Sylvain — I so agree with you about the power of words, and of course so does every preacher, pundit or demagogue. Think of “immigrant” vs “infestation”, for example; or “universal health care” vs. “socialism”. Words are weighted with emotions and hidden assumptions, and in a culture that values speed over depth of understanding, they can even be dangerous, like a drug slipped into your glass when you weren’t looking.

I think especially of perjorative terms like “social justice warrior”, “politically correct” which close down discussion with their implication that to challenge assumptions or fight for the disadvantaged are losers’ games.

I like the crunchy conflict, for example, between “engineering” and “paradise”, which surely you intended. Engineering tells me of laws, precision, a blueprint and a solution; paradise speaks to me of serendipity, grace, the way a green leaf is like all the others, yet also unique; digital vs. analog. Your phrase short-circuits my brain in a teasing way and reminds me that humans, given the right knowledge, imagination and empathy can reach stars, or maybe even make new ones (as long as we don’t forget what happened to Prometheus…)

Unprecedented to me is fairly neutral and can have positive or negative connotations, but there’s an element of surprise, even shock, present. Mozart’s string quartets that he dedicated to Haydn were unprecedented in their structure, bold harmony and emotional range, as was Beethoven’s “Eroica” symphony. Both of them took flak for their efforts, at least from the philistines of the time; posterity is happily astonished at their turning things upside down.

Abnormal posits a normal that is “right”. But who gets to define that?

As a gay man, I hear the word “abnormal” with a bit of anxiety, still. There’s no spinning that one: abnormal is queer, perverse, twisted, deformed; WRONG. That’s why so many gay men, having reached adulthood against all the odds, learned to shoot back: “Being straight isn’t normal — it’s just common!”

DR