Michael Beasinger
01-14-12
Comp 2

With these words I can Sell you anything

With These Words I Can Sell You Anything is a warning piece from the 1990 book Doublespeak, by William Lutz. William is a English teacher at Rutgers University, who is often called the “George Orwell of the 90's” due to a similar feelings on totalitarianism and social injustice. In the piece lutz uses his dictionary like grasp on the meaning of words to debunk the “weasel” words that advertisers often use hype up and push a product.

In the excerpt Lutz's thesis clearly states “Advertisers use weasel words to appear to be making a claim for a product in fact they are making no claim at all”. He then goes on by breaking several of these words down to their base meaning and then places them into context, for example “virtually spotless” a claim made on nearly every dish and laundry cleaning product on the market. The word virtually is used by advertisers as a almost guarantee but actually by definition means not in fact. Several of these weasel words are brought to trial and put to the sword in the same fashion. William Lutz's logos is very powerful in the argument using the words own definition and the advertisements writers lack of context to let it defeat itself. His use of pathos is strong points to warn his readers to look deeper at words such as “like magic” and “helps...”. His ethos in the argument do relay a sense of reliability in the piece, but could be called into question by a more conservative reader for his use of a comical but slightly out of place rewriting psalms 23rd.

One problem With These Word I Can Sell You Anything, is a lack of counter argument, or even having room where a counter argument can come into play. An advertiser could argue two strong points ageinst Lutz. One that advertisements aren't written to solely to mislead consumers, and that words like