TACO HELL: A Fast Food Giant Destroys Our Language

Originally submitted by: Sandy Bottoms On Language

The film WALL-E depicts a dismal future where humans are grotesquely obese, gluttonous babies. They eat fast food, and live a fast life that requires no effort. They are blissfully unaware of where their food comes from, and what it does to them. The film suggests that we are headed in a wasteful, unpleasant direction. Here in this world and time, we have Taco Bell. Taquitos. Enchiritos. Chalupas. Cinnamon Crispas. Gorditas. Fourthmeal. Thinking outside the bun has got speakers of the English Language seeing double. Our sensibilities warp, our ideas of food, health, and taste go for a thrill ride every time Taco Bell unveils a new menu item. These are made-up words. They are creative, futuristic Mexican-inspired mini-meals. You can get them cheap, but you will pay dearly for it in the end. Fast food has long been taking us far away from any idea of authenticity. The mass-produced and highly engineered flavor capsules that they call food have led our culture to gluttony, obesity, and overall disregard for the actual ingredients in the food. The taste is familiar and comforting, but the meat is substandard, the salt and fat content is high, and the branding is dumbed-down to the point of absurdity. The names for these semi-food-based consumables are a mishmash. The Mishmash is the sign of the times. The juxtaposition of words, both English and Spanish, into a kind of nonsensical Evelyn Waugh nightmare. The origin of all these foods is the taco, the burrito, and the quesadilla. These authentic Mexican foods are cheap and delicious in their original form. But when you mass-produce it, package it as a new and innovative combination of cheese, meat and spice, it plunges us into unhealthy territory. The big health kick we are on has led most fast-food companies to adjust. Healthier-seeming options are available. But this isn't what we go to Taco Bell for, is it? We don't go for our health. We go for a double Gordita Enchirito Meximelt. We don't fool ourselves at Taco Bell. We are destroying our bodies knowingly and willfully. Any smoker nowadays knows the risks and does it anyway. Likewise, the fast food eater is fully aware of the dance they are doing with their own mortality. Words can be damaging too. These made-up food words are legitimate words now, just like any other colloquialism. I find them distasteful, that's all. Just as the foods are easy, quick, and oddly satisfying, the words too strike a chord with our sensibilities. The desire for convenience foods and convenience language has led us to an odd place.