Taking Another Look at “Words of Mass Reduction”
Reflections of an Author
Originally posted by Frank Murphy, February 8, 2011
“Words of Mass Reduction”
In a post recently published on the Notebook blog, I stated my objection to the use of the phrase “70,000 Vacant Seats” in order to describe the amount of unused space in Philadelphia Public Schools. I took exception to this descriptor because I consider it to be an example of what I call “Words of Mass Reduction” or a “ WMR” for short.
What exactly is a “WMR”? It is a concise and powerful word bomb that is employed by those who are intent
