Literary Terms and Devices  Loaded (language)

Loaded words are words or phrases which have strong emotional overtones or connotations and which evoke strongly positive (or negative) reactions far beyond the specific meaning of the word which is listed in the dictionary.

Use of the phrase "loaded language" to describe the writing or speech of another implies an accusation of demagoguery or of pandering to the audience.

Some loaded language is used in ways that are deliberately ambiguous or even contradictory. Loaded language as an umbrella term is sometimes used to describe spin, euphemisms and doublespeak.

Examples of loaded words include:

Democracy which used to have strong negative connotations (it was used as the word demagoguery is used today) and now has strong positive connotations throughout the western world. Many now consider anything "democratic" to be automatically "good" and anyone accused of being "anti-democratic" as automatically "bad".

Discrimination which means to sort between but which has such strong connections to the discussion of racial and/or gender bias that the word's original sense has become almost unusable.

non-sexist language, because it implies that failing to use non-sexist language is sexist

both of the terms pro-life and pro-choice, because each implies that the other is anti- something, specifically that pro-life is anti-choice and that pro-choice is anti-life.

Pro-Choice proponents accuse Pro-Lifers of using loaded language in their choice of the term partial birth abortion to describe the medical procedure dilation and extraction.

Communism is often used as an insult without any understanding or regard to its actual meaning, and anything "Communist" is often automatically assumed to be bad.

These terms seem to arise most often in politics where they serve the purpose of propaganda.

Questions, on the other hand, are usually said to be loaded if they make a presupposition. For example, the question "Do you still cheat on your taxes?" makes the presupposition that the subject of the question at one time did cheat on his/her taxes. Common examples of loaded questions arise in interviews where the interviewer wishes to make a biased statement while keeping a guise of unbiased journalism.

Avoiding loaded language where possible is essential for keeping a neutral point of view.