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stevemcgarrett

Joined: 24 Mar 2006
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Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 6:50 pm Post subject: WHICH EUPHEMISM NOW IN VOGUE DO YOU LOVE TO DESPISE? |
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Now that we inhabit the P.C. era and are force-fed niceties by the mass media, euphemisms abound.
George Orwell (author of "The Politics of the English Language") must be shivering in his grave.
All that aside, what's your favorite euphemism, as in the one that makes you wince the most? What word has it replaced? What word do you prefer?
Here's my annoying-as-heck contribution:
issues
As in: "I don't know what's wrong with her but she has lots of issues."
Replacing: problems
Prefer: hangups |
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The Cosmic Hum

Joined: 09 May 2003 Location: Sonic Space
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 1:37 am Post subject: hmm |
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| we're pregnant |
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RACETRAITOR
Joined: 24 Oct 2005 Location: Seoul, South Korea
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 1:49 am Post subject: Re: hmm |
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| "Never mind" as one word. |
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Delirium's Brother

Joined: 08 May 2006 Location: Out in that field with Rumi, waiting for you to join us!
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 4:50 am Post subject: |
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partner
As in: "Hey Delirium's Brother, come meet my partner, Jane." Or: "My partner and I are thinking about taking a ski vacation in New Zealand this year."
Replacing: spouse, wife, husband,
Prefer: wife, husband
Lover is only slightly less annoying than .partner. |
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Herbie
Joined: 08 Dec 2005
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 5:14 am Post subject: Re: hmm |
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| The Cosmic Hum wrote: |
| we're pregnant |
ditto |
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VanIslander

Joined: 18 Aug 2003 Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 5:35 am Post subject: |
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"insurgents"
is the new term for what is to be seen as bad bad resistance but since resistance to occupation used to seen as a good or at least noble and natural impulse... |
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stevemcgarrett

Joined: 24 Mar 2006
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 6:36 am Post subject: |
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Delirium's Brother:
Yeah, good one, and becoming more prevalent in the West.
Partner is like the term of address Ms. in that both are a way to obfuscate. But since we don't have a similar term for bachelors I can accept the feminist argument.
Partner is code for "uncommitted" as in "we're committed to each other but we don't deny each other his or her freedom." Yeah, right. |
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rockstarsmooth

Joined: 01 Aug 2006 Location: anyang, baybee!
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 7:06 am Post subject: |
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| stevemcgarrett wrote: |
| Partner is code for "uncommitted" as in "we're committed to each other but we don't deny each other his or her freedom." Yeah, right. |
"partner" is more often code for "don't make assumptions about my sexual orientation or the gender of my significant other" as the terms husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend are gendered terms.
rss
right now i'm listening to: leonard cohen - woke up this morning |
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Hanson

Joined: 20 Oct 2004
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 7:08 am Post subject: |
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Small/Little People
Replaces: midgets.
Call a spade a spade. |
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stevemcgarrett

Joined: 24 Mar 2006
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 8:03 am Post subject: |
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rockstar:
And why should revealing a partner's identity, especially when it's the opposite sex, pose such a problem in the first place?
hanson:
Yeah, Slapshot. Great sports film. |
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swetepete

Joined: 01 Nov 2006 Location: a limp little burg
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 8:10 am Post subject: |
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"motivationally challenged" or whatever, replacing "crippled."
If I ever get crippled, I'm gonna be damn sure to say so.
What's next? "I'm not dead, I'm living-impaired." |
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blaseblasphemener
Joined: 01 Jun 2006 Location: There's a voice, keeps on calling me, down the road, that's where I'll always be
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 8:14 am Post subject: |
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African-American.
And have you noticed that the word "Black" is still used quite frequently? Why use both? It seems that "Black" is used when in a conversation it would be sort of cumbersome, but used when people in the news or on say, Oprah, want to sound serious. It's a sort of euphamism that has taken hold about 60%. So stupid to me that you can call someone white, but you can't call someone black.
I heard Jesse Jackson came up with it in the 70s, should have stayed there, with brown nylon pants. |
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dogshed

Joined: 28 Apr 2006
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 8:21 am Post subject: |
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| blaseblasphemener wrote: |
African-American.
And have you noticed that the word "Black" is still used quite frequently? Why use both? It seems that "Black" is used when in a conversation it would be sort of cumbersome, but used when people in the news or on say, Oprah, want to sound serious. It's a sort of euphamism that has taken hold about 60%. So stupid to me that you can call someone white, but you can't call someone black.
I heard Jesse Jackson came up with it in the 70s, should have stayed there, with brown nylon pants. |
Jackson helped to popularize it.
A discussion of the term African American and related terms can be found in the journal article "The Politicization of Changing Terms of Self Reference Among American Slave Descendants" in American Speech v 66 is 2 Summer 1991 p. 133-46. |
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Qinella
Joined: 25 Feb 2005 Location: the crib
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 8:38 am Post subject: |
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Yeah I hate the term african american, too. It's just ridiculous beyond measure.
What about the phrase, "Thinking outside the box." Come on guys, we need to think outside the box here!! Let's think of something BIG, like, like.. dancing girls and a mysterious looking plastic blob that floats around in the breeze!
If anyone actually uses that phrase, the chance of them having an ounce of creativty has not only hit zero, but fukced it and had a baby named Here's A Great Idea. |
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Bondrock

Joined: 08 Oct 2006 Location: ^_^
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 9:06 am Post subject: |
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"at this juncture in time"
now??? |
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