Definition:
The substitution of an inoffensive term (such as "passed away") for one considered offensively explicit ("died"). Contrast with dysphemism. Adjective: euphemistic.
See also:
- Visual Euphemism
- Biased Language
- Cacophemism
- Fifty Reasons You'll Never Be Told, "You're Fired"
- George Carlin's Essential Drivel
- Grawlix
- How to Flatter an Audience With Euphemisms, Dysphemisms, and Distinctio
- Language Taboos: Never Say "Die"
- Minced Oath
- Orthophemism
- Paradiastole
- Restaurantese
- Soft Language
- Taboo Language
- Title Inflation
- Top 20 Figures of Speech
- Verbosity
- Weasel Word
Etymology:
From the Greek, "use of good words"Examples and Observations:
- Mr. Prince: We'll see you when you get back from image enhancement camp.
Martin Prince: Spare me your euphemisms! It's fat camp, for Daddy's chubby little secret!
("Kamp Krusty," The Simpsons, 1992) - Paul Kersey: You've got a prime figure. You really have, you know.
Joanna Kersey: That's a euphemism for fat.
(Death Wish, 1974) - "The 'reconstruction' of New Orleans has become a euphemism for the destruction of the city's cultural and historic heritage."
(Ghali Hassan, 2006) - Dr. House: I'm busy.
Thirteen: We need you to . . .
Dr. House: Actually, as you can see, I'm not busy. It's just a euphemism for "get the hell out of here."
("Dying Changes Everything," House, M.D.) - Dr. House: Who were you going to kill in Bolivia? My old housekeeper?
Dr. Terzi: We don't kill anyone.
Dr. House: I'm sorry--who were you going to marginalize?
("Whatever It Takes," House, M.D.) - Pre-owned for used or second-hand; enhanced interrogation for torture; industrial action for strike; misspoke for lie; tactical withdrawal for retreat; revenue augmentation for raising taxes; wind for belch or fart; convenience fee for surcharge; courtesy reminder for bill; unlawful combatant for prisoner of war
- "The more syllables a euphemism has, the further divorced from reality it is."
(George Carlin) - "Wardrobe malfunction"
(Justin Timberlake's description of his tearing of Janet Jackson's costume during a half-time performance at Super Bowl XXXVIII) - Dan Foreman: Guys, I feel very terrible about what I'm about to say. But I'm afraid you're both being let go.
Lou: Let go? What does that mean?
Dan Foreman: It means you're being fired, Louie.
(In Good Company, 2004) - "During the Cold War of 1946-89, NATO had a deterrent (euphemism) against the Russian threat (dysphemism). In the mid 1980s the USSR claimed to have been invited (euphemism) into Afghanistan; the Americans claimed that the Russians were aggressors (dysphemism) there. We get invited in; they are aggressors; the orthophemism is take military action in a foreign land."
(Keith Allen and Kate Burridge, Forbidden Words: Taboo and the Censoring of Language. Cambridge Univ. Press, 2006) - "Euphemisms are not, as many young people think, useless verbiage for that which can and should be said bluntly; they are like secret agents on a delicate mission, they must airily pass by a stinking mess with barely so much as a nod of the head. Euphemisms are unpleasant truths wearing diplomatic cologne."
(Quentin Crisp, Manners from Heaven, 1984) - A Limited Kinetic Operation
"I thought of [George] Orwell this week when I read Robert Gates' remarks on Libya. 'The way I like to put it is, from our standpoint at the Pentagon, we're involved in a limited kinetic operation,' he told Fox. 'If I'm in Gadhafi's palace, I suspect I think I'm at war.' Right. Read it again. It's not a war, it's a limited kinetic operation. Unless you're in the palace. Then, it's war. I suspect. Hello, cuttlefish."
(Emily Rauhala, "What Would Orwell Say: How War in Libya Makes Language Suffer." "Global Spin" at Time, June 23, 2011) - Crazy
"Crazy (and hence crazed and cracked) originally meant 'cracked, flawed, damaged' (cp. crazy paving) and was applicable to all manner of illness; but it has now narrowed to 'mental illness.' It captures the stereotypical mental patient as someone 'flawed, deficient' (cf. mentally deficient), and is the basis for many euphemistic expressions for madness: crack-brained, scatter-brained, shatter-brained; head case, nutcase, bonkers, wacko, wacky; falling to pieces; have a (nervous) breakdown; unhinged; having a screw/tile/slate loose; one brick short of a load, not a full load; not playing with a full deck, three cards short of a full deck; one sandwich short of a picnic; two bob short of a quid, not the full quid; his elevator doesn't go to the top floor; a shingle short; and perhaps he's lost his marbles."
(Keith Allen and Kate Burridge, Euphemism and Dysphemism: Language Used as a Shield and Weapon. Oxford Univ. Press, 1991)
Pronunciation: YOO-fuh-miz-em
Also Known As: soft language, euphemismus, conciliatio, paradiastole, soother
