Parrot Writing (Psittacism)

Definition:

Literally, characteristic of parrots. By extension, thoughtless repetition of a word or phrase without regard for its meaning. Adjective: psittacistic or psittaceous.

See Examples and Observations, below. Also see:

• Buzzword
• Predigested Thinking
• Snarl Words and Purr Words
• What Are Clichés and Why Are We Supposed to Avoid Them?

Etymology:
From the Greek, "parrot"

Examples and Observations:

• "Psittacism, we recall, is the name for the habit of using words without thought. Often a single symbol is enough to start the words flowing, even as prompting a parrot will cause him to run through his piece. The man of the left hears the word 'profit,' and proceeds to intone: 'You can't get anywhere until you destroy the profit system.' The man on the right hears the word 'socialism,' and throwing back his head and shutting his eyes, he roars: 'You can't change human nature!'"
  (Stuart Chase, The Tyranny of Words. Methuen, 1938)

• "He began to write down the thoughts that came into his head. He wrote first in large clumsy capitals:

  FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

  Then almost without a pause he wrote beneath it:

  TWO AND TWO MAKE FIVE

  . . . He accepted everything. The past was alterable. The past never had been altered. Oceania was at war with Eastasia. Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia. . . . How easy it all was! Only surrender, and everything else followed."
  (George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, 1949)
• Psittacism Versus Reflection
  "Language may be regarded as a power of arrest or suspension of images. We may insist on the word to invoke the idea, or substitute the word for the idea which it may suppress. The latter is psittacism or parrotism, Leibnitz's term for words empty of sense. . . . Mental sloth engenders psittacism, while reflection makes thought and makes language scientific."
  (G. Stanley Hall, The American Journal of Psychology, 1895)
• Psittacism in Legal Writing
  "PSITTACISM is the parrotlike use of language. If there is a malady endemic in legal writing, it is the practice or habit of mechanically repeating previously received ideas or images that reflect neither true reasoning nor feeling. Many legal opinions and law-review articles seem little more than ready-made legal phrases strung end on end to justify a given proposition. The cliches give themselves away with the first couple of words in the line, so that the adept reader knows what the psittacistic writer will say before reading the end of the line. . . .
  
  "The best legal writers attempt to formulate their thoughts anew. Their writing is fresh and original. And it is rare."
  (Bryan A. Garner, A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage. Oxford University Press, 2001)

 

Pronunciation: sit-eh-SIZ-em

Also Known As: verbalism, parrot talk, word-slinging