Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
EUPHEMISMS, GENTEELISMS
Euphemisms (Fowler’s term was genteelisms) are words with meanings or sounds thought somehow to be nicer, cleaner, or more elevated and so used as substitutes for words deemed unpleasant, crude, or ugly in sound or sense. It can be argued, perhaps cynically, that whatever we dislike but conclude that we cannot make better, we rename euphemistically instead. But renaming a slum an inner city does not improve living conditions there. Certainly renaming the world in order to make it seem less unpleasant need not be considered a base activity unless our purpose is deliberately to conceal ugliness that we might be able to amend were we to face up to it. Perhaps therefore, since we cannot stop death, it is not so cowardly of us to refer to someone’s recent passing. But none should countenance the impersonal disguises that euphemisms often seek to provide for killing and other horrors, such as the Persian Gulf War’s collateral losses for deaths and injuries to civilians. And all should be able to penetrate the flimsiness of revenue enhancement as a disguise for tax increases or urban renewal for what used to be called slum clearance. Euphemisms are sugarcoatings, and sometimes they try to hide things that ought not to be hidden. See DOUBLESPEAK; NEWSPEAK; WEASEL WORDS.
