There is a word that keeps getting used, for some inexplicable reason, to describe the tragedy at Virginia Tech. That word is "unspeakable." It's something I just sort of noticed. You know how that happens, when a word keeps popping up for a reason you can't explain? That's how it was for me. I started noticing all these broadcast news-types using the word unspeakable to describe the slaughter. Today I heard a news gal on MSNBC say, "The family of Cho Seung-Hui are devastated by the unspeakable tragedy at Virginia Tech." On the Huffington Post, Dan Brown (not of Da Vinci fame) wrote, "The political response to the unspeakable tragedy at Virginia Tech can go two ways. . ."
Then there is this headline from the CBC News: "Ottawa-born Virginia Tech Professor Recalls 'Unspeakable Tragedy.'" I find that headline to be funny because of how it could easily be translated as, "Ottawa Professor Speaks About Unspeakable Things."
The list goes on and, really, I do not think these people know too much what this word "unspeakable" means.
Speaking is what everybody's doing. Speak speak speak. Whether it's in the news or at the water cooler, this Virginia Tech thing is one speakable sumbitch. And this post is no exception to the deluge . Indeed it seems we all have to speak about it, which is fine, whatever. If that's what we do then that's what we do. All I ask is that we stop calling it unspeakable.
I think "unspeakable" should be reserved for things we really can't speak about – like back in the day when it was not permissible to criticize the war lest you be accused of not supporting the troops. Another acceptable way to say unspeakable is when referring to the evilest of demons. You know, one of those ancient, eternal, soul-shredding hellions of the Hellraiser vein. In this case I think it's proper to say, "An unspeakable evil rules this earth", as if the mere saying of the evil thing's name will turn your corpuscles into rats that eat you from the inside. That's an unspeakable evil. But the Virginia Tech massacre, it may be awful, it may be tragic, it may even be awfully tragic – but it is certainly not unspeakable.[Blogger's disclosure: After writing the first draft of this post, I googled the words "unspeakable" and "Virginia Tech" which produced a link to a similar article in the Orlando Sentinel making similar points. I decided to post my piece anyway.]