THINKER'S ALMANAC - May 12

According to George Orwell, what is the great enemy of clear language?

Subject:  Language and Thought - Carlin’s Euphemisms

Event:  Birthday of comedian Geoge Carlin, 1937

The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns, as it were, instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish squirting out ink. -George Orwell

                                    George Orwell - Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay 

Euphemisms are a natural feature of language, where we replace potentially offensive or harsh language with words that are more tactful and less abrupt. For example, when we talk about death, sex, or bodily functions, we refer to how someone has “passed away,” or how two people are “sleeping with each other,” or how someone has gone to “the powder room.”   These kinds of euphemisms are perfectly appropriate in social sending, used for purposes of being polite to others.

Euphemisms become dangerous, however, when they become doublespeak, which means language that is used to be intentionally misleading, manipulative, or deceptive. In the words of William Lutz, an expert in political language, doublespeak “is language designed to alter our perception of reality.”  For example, in 1984, the U.S. State Department announced that it would replace the word “killing” in its annual report on human rights with the phrase “unlawful or arbitrary deprivation of life.” 

One man who declared war on euphemisms and doublespeak was the American comedian George Carlin, who was born on this day in 1937. In one of his classic stand-up acts, Carlin made his case for using “simple, honest, direct language” rather than resorting to the kind of language that squeezes humanity out of language.  To illustrate his point, Carlin talked about the way euphemisms have been used historically to refer to the damage suffered by soldiers in combat.  

Beginning in the First World War, the operative term was clear and straightforward:  “shell shock.”  By World War II the term had become “battle fatigue,” but soon took on more syllables and less clarity, becoming “operational exhaustion.”  Today it has morphed into “posttraumatic stress disorder.”  Carlin’s point is that each change in the term became less clear, less concrete, and less human, resulting in a term like P.T.S.D. that buries the suffering of soldiers and blurs the reality of their suffering under jargon.  As Carlin points out, fewer euphemisms would have resulted in more soldiers getting the kind of medical help they really needed (1).

Another classic example of how euphemisms come into play is in the workplace.  In a 1996 essay entitled “You’re Out of Here,” linguist Geoffrey Nunberg is nostalgic for a past when an employee was given bad news; a boss would say simply and clearly, “You’re fired” or “We’re letting you go.”  In a modern age, however, corporations continue to generate more and more creative euphemisms to replace simple, clear language.  Here are nine examples:

Restructured

Re-engineered

Redeployed

Rightshaped

Downsized

Involuntary force reductions

Involuntary methodologies

Focussed reductions

Managing down staff resources (2)

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason: When does the use of euphemisms become dangerous?  How does the evolution of the term “shell shock” illustrate the nature of euphemisms?

Challenge - Four English Fails:   In his classic essay “Politics and the English Language” (1946), George Orwell warns against several aspects of language that can get in the way of expressing clear thoughts in writing.  In addition to euphemism, Orwell warns against the following:  passive voice, nominalizations, cliches, and jargon.  Do some research on one of these four terms.  Define the term with examples, and explain why writers who want to communicate their ideas clearly and cogently to an audience will avoid it.

ALSO ON THIS DAY:

May 12, 1812:  Today is the birthday of poet and painter Edward Lear. Before he made his name as a poet, Lear was a painter, illustrating birds for such noteworthy clients as Charles Darwin.  In 1832, while on an assignment to paint animals in the Early of Darby’s private zoo, Lear began composing humorous verse for the Early’s grandchildren.  He put his poems together in his Book of Nonsense, published in 1846. Lear is remembered for his famous poem “The Owl and the Pussycat,” but his most noteworthy contribution to the literary world is the limerick.

Sources:

1- Carlin, George. “Euphemisms.” Youtube.com

2-Nunberg, Geoffrey.  “You’re Out of Here.”  The Way We Talk Now.  New York:  Houghton Mifflin Company, 2001.