Euphemisms
According to Webster’s, a euphemism is “the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant.” Very often, we use euphemisms out of social nicety–to not offend or overstep in polite company. The famous writer George Orwell, warned of euphemism (Links to an external site.) used in a more dangerous way–as a tool for governments and the military to obscure truth and manipulate the masses:
In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defence of the indefensible. Things like the continuance of British rule in India, the Russian purges and deportations, the dropping of the atom bombs on Japan, can indeed be defended, but only by arguments which are too brutal for most people to face, and which do not square with the professed aims of the political parties. Thus political language has to consist largely of euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness. Defenceless villages are bombarded from the air, the inhabitants driven out into the countryside, the cattle machine-gunned, the huts set on fire with incendiary bullets: this is called pacification. Millions of peasants are robbed of their farms and sent trudging along the roads with no more than they can carry: this is called transfer of population or rectification of frontiers. People are imprisoned for years without trial, or shot in the back of the neck or sent to die of scurvy in Arctic lumber camps: this is called elimination of unreliable elements. Such phraseology is needed if one wants to name things without calling up mental pictures of them. Consider for instance some comfortable English professor defending Russian totalitarianism. He cannot say outright, ‘I believe in killing off your opponents when you can get good results by doing so’. Probably, therefore, he will say something like this:
‘While freely conceding that the Soviet regime exhibits certain features which the humanitarian may be inclined to deplore, we must, I think, agree that a certain curtailment of the right to political opposition is an unavoidable concomitant of transitional periods, and that the rigors which the Russian people have been called upon to undergo have been amply justified in the sphere of concrete achievement.
We have discussed the power of language at length–to communicate and to persuade–and now I want you to consider the role language plays in manipulating and distorting the truth (for political ends or otherwise).
Please read “Are Children Being Kept in Cages” Download “Are Children Being Kept in Cages”and “When Euphemism Disguises Truth,” Download “When Euphemism Disguises Truth,”
You should also watch my video “Euphemisms and Connotative Language,” found in this week’s module.
Now, in a 250 word Initial Post, discuss the implications of these articles–How is language used to deceive? How can we guard against this deception? Is euphemistic language lying? Where have you seen euphemistic language in your own observations?
