Tuesday, June 16, 2020

Euphemisms in a scary time

fuzzy thinking  
fuzzy speaking  

Because of "the ongoing global health event," UPS says deliveries will take longer.  

It's not a global health crisis or a pandemic.  It's an event.

Just like the George Floyd incident in Minneapolis.  It's not a lynching or a murder.  It's just an incident.

Euphemisms!  They drive me crazy.

If we choose our words carefully, we can pretend these things are not happening.

People don't die from Covid-19, they pass away.  Gently...  floating up like a balloon?  

Actually, they die because they can't breathe.  It's not an easy death. 

"George Floyd experienced the global health event, but he did not pass away.  He was taken in an incident in Minneapolis...."  

George Orwell hated this kind of talk and writing.  He called it Doublespeak.  

Truth hides in subterfuges like this.

No comments: