JW Lingo..

Sassy

We've talked about this subject several times since I joined this site...

Time and again I will get together with xJWs and they still refer for instance to being a JW as being in the Truth..

I've talked to people who have been out 2 or 5 or even 10 yrs and they still refer to it as that in their conversations...

My immediate reaction is to want to correct them and say "why do you call it the truth still?".. Now at times I might refer to it either in writing that way but if I do (which becomes rarer and rarer) I will put it in quotes, or even verbally put the 'quote' sign with my fingers as I talk, so those listening or reading know I am using it because it is 'someone elses' term for it, but not calling it that myself..

now I see this as a good thing and a bad thing.. I would think that since my natural reaction is so not connect it to myself as how I personally consider them having the truth so I dont' call it that and catch when someone else does, BUT, also for those I am not trying to offend who are still JWs, my lack of using the term, or even calling it the relgion, sets me apart from them.. my lingo is changing... so I probably raise red flags to them..

I just find it ironic for someone out ten yrs to still call it 'the truth'..

does it hit anyone else that way? or is it just me??

slipnslidemaster

I haven't call it the "troof" for a long time now. At best, I call it "the organization". I also like "The Society" especially now that they've changed their names to the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses. Of course, they changed that on purpose and it won't be long until they can identify us apostates by the term "society". Oh well.

xjw_b12

LOL Big Big peeve of mine as well Sassy.

I went for a ride with a freind of mine last weekend, who has been out about the same time as me. And he used that expression a half dozen times or so.

I used to correct people, now I just substitute the word "Troof" and I find that works quite well.

Sassy

You know it is funny.. because when I was on the pro JW boards, that was partly how we caught people that were xJWs (trolls) posing as JWs.. because they thought they sounded "normal" and still fitting in, but yet there were little words that set them apart.. to be honest it was rather easy to pick them out.

I wrote an email to my mother in response to something about being a JW and I thought I was being pretty tactful and asked Shotgun what he thought of what I said... his tactful response was that I had used words that might scare a JW ... I think I called being part of the WTS or being in the 'truth', as being in 'the religion".. he said it might put my mom off.. the way I spoke and I knew he was right..

so do we slowly change our vocabulary over time?

cyber-sista

I am trying to get as far away from JW speak as possible...It was suggested by someone at the beginning of my exiting the Org. as some of that "theocratic language" can be triggers for JW flashbacks. When referring to things of the Organization I refer to it as the "Org" taken from the Borg (those aliens who assimilate every thing in their path sucking the souls out of individuals and turing them into mindless machines bent on serving their mother leader who instucts them to to go out and find others to assimilate into the collective) Anyway, just a little bit of ranting this morning...

Euphemism

I was over at a local ex-JW friend's house... most of there were ex-JWs, and there were a couple of never-JWs. One of the ex-JWs called a congregation "the church". And I have to admit that I was shocked. I never call it "the truth"... I call it "the organization" or "the religion" or "the Society", but I still had that bit of programming in me that resisted calling it a "church".

And yes, cult-members do typically recognize other cult-members--or identify divergence within the cult--by the use of certain verbal patterns; I think the term in the literature is "loaded language", but I could be wrong.

Nosferatu

Even when I was in, I questioned calling it "The Truth". What if it wasn't? That kind of thinking led me out of "The Truth", LOL! The only time I use it is when I'm talking with a JW, and I want to be on the same level as them. It's just a nickname, or an abbreviated way of saying "In the Jehovah's Witnesses Religion". However, JWR doesn't sound as nice at "The Truth".

I've come to develope a hate for certain JW terms, such as "The Truth", and the word "Theocratic".

Sassy

I don't know that I even thought of the meaning of the word "truth' so much as it was just a word when I was in...

I have actually long called the religion or the KH a church to people who have never been JWs.. it was just easier.. many years before that I would take the time to explain if I was referring to attending something, that we didn't call it a church but a Kingdom Hall, but i stopped doing that a long time ago.. gave into calling it a church for 'never been JWs" because it was words they understood..

re: trigger words.. a couple of weeks ago my bf was making a statement of a goal in his life.. it was more a statement in humor to a conversation I dont' even remember.. but he said something about that face he would be content to have yada yada yada and have peace and security. That hit me.. those three little words.. he looked at me like, ?? are you ok? what did I say??

I explained to him what Jehovah's Witnesses think every time they hear those words...

chok

I guess you just stop talking the 'pure language' that sets us apart! I mean THEM!

Forgive me, I'm still in the early days of unscrewing my messed up head!

Chok

BluesBrother

When in the company of active dubs, I find it very easy to slip into the vernacular, and even the mode of thinking if I an not careful . I guess it is the result of a lifetime of behaving that way. Although I am totally devoid of any faith or respect for that organisation.

I wonder if other people who have always lived in a certain way and thought a certain way, experience the same thing?... I am thinking perhaps of those raised in a country like East Germany who where suddenly subjected to Western Capitalism. Old habits die hard, I guess

JW Lingo..

Share this