If you look closely enough, if you squint until you can make out the vague outlines of objects in the distance, you may garner a clue about what's coming. He maintains that the words we use are, to some extent, beyond our control. Human beings, in that respect, are the prisoners of their own language. Word usage is like a fingerprint, Foster insists. What we say or what we write reflects the way our brains work.
Word choice is an effective way to analyze ideas, to note preoccupations, to explore personality.
He was responding to a question about the Senate confirmation process that awaited John Ashcroft, the president's choice for attorney general. But that may be Bush's plan. Interesting' is one of those notoriously weaselly words. Vagueness is not always a crime. Language, in fact, needs to be vague, or else we wouldn't be able to use words for many different things.