Cant [ Language & Speech ]
… the term in his Dictionary of the English Language 1 , and the word was used in several controversies so as to present the opponent's rhetoric as a counter-model to the ideal sociability brought about by clear and rational language. … Cant Words, which is the most ruinous Corruption in any Language.’ 4 As for Johnson , his dictionary was explicitly presented as an attempt to save the English language which had ‘been hitherto neglected; suffered to spread under the … originating in religious enthusiasm or in the criminal underworld were adopted. ‘Cant’ became a useful rhetoric tool to present one's opponent's language as unworthy of any consideration. Moreover, denunciations of linguistic perversions …
Controversy | Conversation | Hypocrisy | Rhetoric
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