The Republican pollster, consultant and wordsmith Frank Luntz sure knows how to tweak a phrase.

In 1994 he helped coin the term "Contract with America" for Congressional Republicans, and since then he's cleverly crafted conservative catchphrases for maximum appeal. It was Luntz, for instance, who advised Republicans that their efforts to abolish the inheritance tax would gain more support if they called it the "death tax."

In his recent book, "Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear" (Hyperion, $24.95), Luntz shows how political phrases are shrewdly honed to make policies more persuasive. No matter where you stand politically, Luntz's insights into the subtle connotations of words are fascinating.

Republicans have hit linguistic homeruns, Luntz says, by referring to wiretapping as "electronic intercepts" (sounds like they just happened to overhear something), dubbing tax cuts "tax relief" (implying that taxpayers are besieged), and calling trial lawyers "personal injury lawyers" (conjuring images of sleazy ambulance-chasers).

For decades, U.S. oil companies have described their efforts as "drilling for oil," a term that conjured images of rickety derricks and gushing glop. So now they boast of "exploring for energy." Meanwhile, advocates for non-petroleum energy sources have found "renewable energy" more persuasive than "alternative energy," a phrase that suggests Left Coast touchy-feelyism.

The words "globalization" and "global economy" have gone global these days, but Luntz says we should think twice about using them.

"'Globalization,'" he writes, "represents something big, something distant and something foreign." His polling shows that the Americans find the euphemisms "free market economy" and "free trade" much more appealing.

Advocates of "school choice" and "vouchers," Luntz says, would be better off calling for "parental choice" and "opportunity scholarships." "'School choice," he notes, sounds as if the schools are in control, while "vouchers" remind people that money is being drained from public schools.

And Republicans might have found more success in reforming Social Security, Luntz says, had they advocated "personalizing" Social Security rather than "privatizing" it. "Private," he says, bears all sorts of negative connotations (e.g. private clubs, private schools), while "personalize" suggests individual choice, ownership and control.

Luntz reminds us that, while a word to the wise is sufficient, we also need to be wise to the word.

Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Conn., invites your language sightings. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via e-mail to Wordguy@aol.com or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 5777 W. Century Blvd., Suite 700, Los Angeles, CA 90045. To find out more about Rob Kyff and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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