Slide words (if that's really what they're called)
I’m pretty sure I’ve heard the term used for the kind of words you slip into a sentence when you’re trying to keep it going without knowing exactly what to say — um, er, etc. — but in any event, this is about a different sort of slide word: a word or short phrase that has become a stand-in for an entire argument. Except there is no argument. I’ll let David A. Black do the talking:
A slide word, I gather, is a word or phrase that has come to serve as shorthand for an entire argument—except that the argument isn’t really there. We’re all just supposed to think it is. The slide word acts as a black hole, drawing further discussion and thoughtful debate into itself and killing it.
Slide words are bad because they take the place of actual analysis of situations and events. Every slide word has a kind of implicit, “Sigh. Here we go again” attached to it, even though the “again” part is asserted through the use of the slide word itself and not actually demonstrated.
