Adults consume adult beverages such as beer, wine, and the like. They also drink water, coffee, and tea, but we don’t call them adult beverages, just beverages. And there’s adult entertainment, too, and we know what that means: pornography. So maybe attaching the adjective “adult” to a noun means bad for you. Accordingly, these are Euphemisms.

What is an Euphemism?

Euphemism is substituting a mild, indirect, or vague term for one considered harsh, blunt, or offensive. Sometimes called doublespeak, it is a word or phrase that pretends to communicate but doesn’t. It makes the bad seem good, the unnatural seem natural, and the unpleasant seem attractive or at least tolerable. It’s a language that avoids or denies responsibility and conceals or prevents thought.

It could be in the form of Figures of speech, slang, and Phonetic modifications: shortening expressions (What the B-word); intentional mispronunciation (dang, fudge)

How do Euphemisms work?

At the workplace, it is when:

  • If you are offered a career change or an early retirement opportunity, or if there is a workforce imbalance correction, then it actually means you’re fired!
  • You do not live in a slum but in substandard housing, in an economically depressed neighbourhood, or a culturally deprived environment.
  • You’re not buying a used car but a pre-enjoyed or pre-loved vehicle.

And a lot more euphemisms manifested in our daily lives.

Euphemisms encourage intellectual dishonesty and make corruption, genocide and various hideous acts more possible.

Although some may find it financially or politically beneficial to euphemize their language, Euphemism has spread to the public that those who have no intention of hiding something heinous, such as “genocide,” still speak only of “ethnic cleansing.”The term does not bring to mind the graphic images of the horrors that go along with mass murder.

The abuse of euphemism violates our inherent duty to speak the truth and the right of others to receive it. Instead, it makes us remain ignorant of horrific human realities. For example, instead of hearing reports of the number of deaths of innocent civilians, we hear only of the war’s inevitable “collateral damage.”

Abuse of Language

Language is power. Many of us do not stop considering the power we wield through our daily use of tongues and pens. As humans work toward the betterment of society, it is our duty to consciously reject vague euphemistic language that politics and the media have prescribed over the years. Our responsibility is to allow the light of truth to shine in our words.

To add, one of the things that makes great books timeless is their ability to express eternal truths using language elevated to its highest form.

In conclusion, we should choose our language in every moment of our lives—whether in a public or private conversation—consciously, carefully, and cautiously. We must always consider the great responsibility that is tied to its use.

Most importantly, we should always direct our language to the true, the good, and the beautiful. Since we know that the truth always finds its way to the light, the sure prescription for winning any war of words is to toss away careless euphemisms and arm oneself with the greatest weapon: the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.