why words matter

Feeling under the weather, you visit your doctor.
Your doctor diagnoses "flu", and treats you accordingly.
In fact, you have bubonic plague.
You die.

Recall, Rummy explicitly refused to call the Iraq insurgency an "insurgency".
The result?
We mounted no effective counter-insurgency campaign.
The insurgents took over Iraq.

Today? From Think Progress:

White House Still Won’t Use The Word ‘Recession,’ Press Corps Doesn’t Seem To Notice

Does it matter that WH refuses to use the word "recession"?

As suggested by preceding comments, I believe it does.
If you do not correctly diagnose the illness, you are unlikely to prescribe an effective treatment.
[I note that the conservatives are still characterizing the current mess as a financial problem resulting in a credit freeze.
... and this continues to have policy implications: the Fed & Treasury continue to pursue treatment protocol that seems very heavily weighted towards injecting $$$ into financial sector.
So far it hasn't worked.]

Stop the madness.