If pro is the opposite of con, is progress the opposite of Congress?

Anyone who has set foot on Loyola’s campus in the past few months has seen the chaos and mess caused by the construction. We have moats, dirt piles, huge holes, bridges, and heavy machinery all over campus, impeding the flow of foot traffic and making it difficult to get anywhere without taking some complicated detour. While I understand the reason for the construction, it doesn’t help my frustration it having to take round-about routes to get to class. I’m angry that it is happening now, during the middle of the school year, and that it’s still going on. I believe that the administration knows that this construction is frustrating people, and so they use rhetoric to try and deflect these feelings away from themselves. Have you ever seen these signs:



Brilliant! Instead of asking us to “Pardon the mess” or the construction, we are asked to “Pardon [their] progress.” This sign effectively uses rhetoric; it makes those who are bothered by the construction feel badly because they are bothered by progress. Who wants to oppose progress? No one does, and this is exactly what the sign makers want. Now, instead of being angry and frustrated with construction, people begin to think more positively about the progress being made on campus.

The subtle use of certain words to convey different connotations is not a new idea. Politicians and administrators use carefully chosen words to but lighter or more favorable spins on sometimes not-so nice ideas. For example, calling garbage men waste management associates, or saying preemptive counter attack instead of simple attack, create more pleasant connotations in the minds of people. The “Pardon Our Progress” signs are a classic example of rhetoric in action. Did they work?