EUPHEMISMS: Lets Just Keep It Real.

Euphemism: A vague, mild expression that symbolizes something more blunt or harsh (Floyd, 2009)

To Help:  Acceptance  Politically Correctness  Hide from Reality  To Mislead Why we use euphemisms

Acceptance Death: Sleeping with Jesus Gone to a better place To be politically correct Prisoner: Convict Detainee

Hide from Reality Venereal Disease: Social Disease To Mislead Unemployed: Between jobs Taking time off

How euphemisms cause cultural complications in communication

The euphemism treadmill is a term coined By Steven Pinker a linguist and professor at Harvard University. Euphemism Treadmill

 Death penalty/ Capital punishment  Genocide/ Ethnic cleansing  Jail/ Secure facility  Killing of innocents/ Collateral damage  Police officer/ Peace officer Bad Euphemisms

Euphemisms cause problems in communication and desensitizes us to normal human emotions. Its okay to feel sad about a death and its okay to admit that you’re not in between jobs but just plain old unemployed. Sometimes the ugly truth is better than a pretty lie. Conclusion

 Green, N (September 30, 2009) Bad Euphemisms, Political Correctness and Censorship. 500 Words on Words Retrieved February 2, 2011 from political-correctness-and-censorship political-correctness-and-censorship  Burk, D.( June 3, 2009) Damning Euphemisms, A commentary on theology, politics, and culture. Retrieved February 15, 2011 from  Alkire, S. (May 2002) Introducing Euphemisms to Language Learners. Retrieved February 10, 2011 from  Floyd, K. (2009) Interpersonal Communication The Whole Story. Retrieved February 10, 2011  Photobucket. Retrieved February 20, 2011 from Resources