There's an article on page A 23 of today's Seattle Times titled "Doublespeak: Or 'arbitrary deprivation of life,' where is thy sting?" The article reports on the 1984 Doublespeak Award, from the National Council of Teachers of English.
The winner was the State Department:
In reports of human-rights violations, many by U.S.-supported governments, the State Department replaced "killing" with the phrase "unlawful or arbitrary deprivation of life."
[...]
The State Department triumphed over a verbiage-strewn field which included Vice President George Bush and Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger. Its cause was advanced by the invasion of Grenada, which it called "a pre-dawn vertical insertion."
[...]
Bush ... was cited for equating "liberal" with "leftist." He also accused Democratic presidential candidate Walter Mondale of wanting to "drastically cut" defense spending. Mondale actually favored higher spending, though not at the level proposed by President Reagan."He's favoring cutting our defense proposals," Bush said. "Therefore, he wants to cut defense spending."
Weinberger won recognition for claiming the removal of American troops in Lebanon to ships offshore did not constitute a withdrawal. "Nothing has changed," said Weingerger. "We are not leaving Lebanon. The Marines are being deployed two or three miles to the west."
Other nominees included:
Author unknown.
