Someone challenged my use of the term
“physician assisted dying”, describing it as mealy mouthed. I had used the term
while commenting on the Carter decision, which deals with assisted suicide. In
retrospect, my choice of language was a bit wimpy. I was doing what people have
been doing for millennia, opting for the politically correct language of a
euphemism instead of speaking plainly.
Euphemisms help us avoid taboo and painful topics
Euphemisms have been around at
least since biblical times when to uncover a man’s foot was an idiom for making
sexual advances. Today, as in the 10th century, people “sleep together”,
and everyone knows the intention behind an invitation for a “nightcap”.
In classical times, “curled up”, “gone to sleep”, or “on a journey” were euphemisms for
death. Now, we “pass away”, “pass on”, or “go to a better place”. Depending on
the circumstances, we might even experience a “negative patient outcome.”
The human body and its functions are
a rich source of euphemism. The English language has over 2500 words for the
body’s “private parts” and numerous phrases to describe natural functions; “pees
and poos” are those unspeakable things we do when we “go to the bathroom.” And before it was polite to say that a
woman was pregnant, or for a pregnant woman to proudly display her “condition”,
she was “with child”, “in the family way”, or (my personal favorite dating from
Victorian times) had “a bun in the oven”.
While some euphemisms help us
navigate our way around embarrassing, painful or taboo subjects, others help us
save face or elevate our position. Corporations that want to bolster their
bottom line “downsize” and respected managers get “the golden handshake”. Someone who is unemployed is “between
jobs” or “making a career change.”
Secretaries and janitors have gone the way of the dinosaurs with
“administrative assistants” and “sanitation engineers” stepping into fill the
void. Perhaps one day,
“pedagogical mentors” will replace teachers.
They fool us into thinking we are enlightened
Then there are those euphemisms
that fool us into thinking we are clever and enlightened. “Monogam-ish”, a term
recently coined by sex columnist Dan Savage,
falls into this category. To be monogam-ish is to be mostly faithful to
your partner, while embracing the occasional affair as a normal and healthy
part of a committed relationship. The
media, quick to pick up on any idea that is remotely trendy, encouraged debate
on the validity of monogamy for our time and invited people to describe their
experience of being monogam-ish. But if we are to be truthful, monogam-ish is nothing other
than plain old-fashioned infidelity once we remove the smokescreen of language.
Equally dangerous are those mealy
mouthed phrases that sugarcoat the unpalatable and disguise inconvenient
truths. “Collateral damage” sanitizes the loss of human life, and “enhanced
interrogation techniques” masks torture.
And what about “physician
assisted dying”, the term for which I opted? At one time, we talked about “mercy killing”, and more recently, “assisted suicide”. But since we have no appetite for state
sanctioned murder, we have found increasingly more complex ways to describe a
questionable action. “Medical aid in dying” and “physician assisted dying” are
easier to tolerate than terms that point towards killing. As with military
terminology that camouflages the truth, these terms desensitize us to the
reality of what we are doing.
Like the Emperor's new clothes, they swindle our conscience
Some euphemisms are like the
emperor’s new clothes, swindling our conscience and obscuring the truth. So while indirect speech allows us to
talk politely about awkward, embarrassing or painful subjects, sometimes it is,
to quote George Orwell, designed to “make lies sound truthful, murder
respectful and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.”
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