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Aversion to neutrality is also embedded in language | blogjou

Daniel S. Milo

Good Enough - The Tolerance for Mediocrity in Nature and Society

p. 127
04 Nov 2023

Aversion to neutrality is also embedded in language


Aversion to neutrality is also embedded in language. In Enlish, neutrality is expressed through the cancellation of other states. One may be nonaligned, disinterested, detached, unbiased, asexual, indifferent, or impartial. In this way, neutrality is coded as exceptional rather than normal. The normal state is one of preference or tendency, and neutrality is its negation. Linguists would describe neutrality as marked, which is to say uncommon, while the absence of neutrality is unmarked.