The University of Split
Dr. Danica Skara
e-mail:dskara@ffst.hr
THE SEARCH FOR NEW MENTAL IMAGES:
POLITICAL CORRECTNESS, EUPHEMISMS
OR SEMANTIC ENGINEERING
The following issues will be discussed:





Language, power and politics
Euphemism as a mirror of social and cultural
realities
Political correctness: ‘euphemism with attitude’
metaphors and THE SEMANTIC FIELD OF WAR
Verbal hygiene



We are daily exposed to different situations in our
life.
Some experiences are too sensitive to be discussed,
e.g. death, sexuality, race, ethnicity, disability, etc.
Some experiences are strategically defined with
specific vocabulary> politics, e.g. euphemisms,
metaphors>political correctness (PC), e.g. The
Third World, underdeveloped, less developed,
developing countries, emergent nations, HIPCs
(highly indebted countries) > a Western point of
view







We will examine how very personal linguistic
choices are actually products of social and
cultural pressures, e.g.
to have sex with = to sleep with,
race=diversity,
fat=fully figured or husky.
Terms used in legal terminology are carefully
chosen. During a trial, the lawyers might take
advantage of different connotations of terms,
e.g.
The fetus was aborted.
The baby was murdered



Words such as fetus, abortion, and
termination assume a medical frame of
reference, rather than criminal one (e.g.
murder).
These words are of foreign origin without
any association with the unpleasant
referent.
These sentences refer to the same
external reality, but very different moral
points of view are encoded, and different
assumptions about offence and guilt are
implied.
Words cut more than swords

Language also might be connected with an
ideology. A very significant issue is the interplay
of language, power and politics..

Words can be used as a shield or a weapon.
As the purpose of political rhetoric is persuasion, or
the manipulation of the public, figurative speech and
specific verbal hygiene practices are often used
euphemisms
metaphors
political correctness.
Politeness shares certain similarities with PC.




Euphemisms
We use euphemism to avoid stressful reality, connecting one term with negative
associations to the other which is positive. Where there is an unwelcome truth to be
hidden from others, euphemism flourishes, e.g. death-to pass away
Metaphors
What makes an utterance metaphorical is the fact that it is intended to make someone
notice a likeness between objects ordinarily considered to be different. Metaphors
allow us to make connections across domains and to find coherence between unrelated
or not necessarily similar events, e.g. invasion>operation, bombing raids >surgical strikes

G. W. Bush: But our responsability to history is already clear: to answer these attacks and rid the world of evil. (evil=terrorists)

Political correctness (PC)

PC is a term used to describe language behaviour which is intended to provide a
minimum of offense, particulary to racial, cultural, or other identitry groups.(Chilton,
2004), e.g. Feminist campaign against sexist language, e.g. chairmanchairperson
Thus, PC can be viewed as an attempt to enforce and legalize linguistic
behaviour that was previously governed by the rules of politeness.

Euphemisms

Euphemism has been a key word in the debate on
politically correct language.


The term euphemism means primarily the substitution of the
words. The purpose of a euphemism is to present a situation
or an object in a more agreeable or politer light. They are
often used to deliberately cloud an issue or to misdirect
attention.
Most euphemisms are used to make a concept less offensive
and more acceptable, e.g.
physically challenged-handicapped,
disadvantaged – poor, diversity - race.

somatic cell nucleur transfer (Harward University)> human cloning










Aging
Mention of age and the aging seems to have been unpleasant from time
immemorial and, under certain conditions, has required euphemisms.
old person = the elderly, senior citizens, advanced in age, golden years, not in
his/her first youth, of mature years, etc.
Poverty
Since poverty is often considered humiliating, harsh reference to it must
be constantly softened with euphemisms, e.g. poor>underprivileged,
deprived, disadvantaged.
Law
The language of the law welcomes the euphemism. To depersonalize the
law, judges refer to themselves as the bench.
In the USA, prisons are correctional facilities and prison wardens are
institutional superintendents.













Death, illness
We are all afraid of illness and death, and we often try to replace these words with
some euphemistic terms to soften harsh reality.
In many languages, expressions for sicknesses are often replaced by less offensive and
more acceptable terms, e.g.
cancer = long incurable illness, the big C,
temporary insanity = balance of the mind disturbed,
insane = mentally handicapped, mentally deprived
In Roman times, epilepsy was attributed to the influence of the Gods, and it was called
MORBUS SACER (the sacred disease).
A nuclear explosion may cause heavy causalities among your leaders.
To take part in an activity with the enemy.
Death is referred to as having passed away or departed. Sometimes the deceased is said to
have gone to a better place.
death, to die = pass away, pass on, go to sleep, meet one’s maker, go to rest, kick the bucket, the
big D. We lose our relatives. In many languages a common way of saying ‘If I die’ is ‘If
anything happens to me’.
Our pets are put to sleep, put away.
Euthanasia also attracts euphemisms. One may put him out of his misery. It might be
considered as mercy killing.
‘Political correctness: euphemism
with attitude’*









According to K. Burridge (1966) PC is another label for euphemism.
D. Cameron (:: ) says that there is a lot more to the political correctness debate than just civility and
sensitivity. Terms like African American emphasises not genetics, but the historical roots of the negro
population. Similarly, Asian American, etc.
PC can be seen as a cognitive modification acording to the needs of the context.
The word colored, once discouraged as a racist term, was replaced by Negro, than Negro was replaced by
black; black was again replaced by people of color, and, most recently in the US African American has
gained ground against other terms.
Thus, it is probably safe to assume that all atempts of language purification will be shattered against the
ability of words to acquire new pragamtic connotations in new contexts.
In a more focused and linguistic sense, the principal function of PC is often viewed as replacing biased
judgemental expressions deevaluating individual’s race, sex, sexual orientation, age, health, social status,
appearance, etc. with neutral units, which do not posses negative connotations.
PC is a policy of prescribing certain types of linguistic behaviur.
Over the past two decades PC ha stimulated many questions, much cotraversy, and criticism.
Perhaps people’s reluctance to view PC as euphemisms is because of the term euphemism itself. IN modern
usage it is typically associated with bureaucratic doublespeak or language for covering up reality that stinks.

Lutz (1990, p.34) views PC as 'a blanket term for language
that pretends to communicate, but doesn't; that makes the bad
seem good, the negative sound positive, and the unpleasant
appear attractive, or at least tolerable.
Metaphors




Deliberate departures from conventional usage are meant to bring
new relations of words. New relations are expressed in the form of
metaphors and euphemisms. We often use these forms in order to
avoid direct reference or to voice our opinion without being strictly
accountable for it.
In politics, the explanatory function of metaphors is often subjected
to the goal of manipulation, which means that metaphors are often
primarily selected for their emotional and strategic effect.
Furthermore, there are metaphors we live by:
Prime candidates in political speeches in general are metaphorical
links with familiar words, e.g. WIND (e.g. the new breeze, wind of change),
ILLNESS metaphors: our country can be healthy; it has friends, allies
and enemies.

Daisy cutter=bomb
Smoking Gun & Mushroom Cloud

The Axis of Evil

Metaphors in Recent Political
Language




According to E. Partridge (1948) War is the greatest
excitant of new vocabulary.
the language of journalists and diplomats: Their
choice of words often creates the kind of enemy
image essential to provoking and maintaining
hostility that can justify war,
e.g. Saddam Hussein has been often described as a
war criminal, lunatic, bloody dictator
his regime as an outlaw regime, or part of the Axis of
Evil.












WAR
preventive initiatives,
strategic bombing,
the management and application of controlled violence.
operation enduring freedom,
military operation,
a battle of good and evil,
armed struggle,
appropriate response,
peace campaign,
struggle for national existence,
active defense,
War











conflict,
confrontation,
counter force attack,
intervention,
limited action,
defensive measures,
peace keeping action,
selective response,
self defense,
surgical strike,
anti-terror campaign.
War: Verbal hygiene




concentration camp >pacification centers,
bombing raids >surgical strikes
terrorists> fredom fighter
These carefully targeted actions are designed to disrupt the use of
Afganistan as a terrorist base of operations, and to attack the military
capability of the Taliban regime.
We are supported by the collective will of the world.
If any goverment sponsors the outlaws and killers of innocents, they
have become outlaws and murderers, themselves.
Japanese euphemisms

Japanese Ministry called Japanese invasion of China: 'the
Japanese advance‘, an advance of Japanese forces, and the
establismnet of a supervisory government.

military comfort women- It refers to women of various ethnic and
national backgrounds and social circumstances who became sexual
laborers for the Japanese troops before and during the Second World
War

Japanese apology: We regret that there was an unfortunate
history. (war)





Given such a view, Americans have ‘a task of high justice’ to
prepare ‘Operation: Iraqi freedom’.
The president of the US says that the US is in the gulf to protect
freedom, protect the future, and protect the innocent.
On the other hand terrorists strike at the heart of America's
commerce and government.
A missile attack on Iraq in 1993 was called ‘self defense against
armed attack’
The concept of the rogue state is applied to states which are considered to
be a treat to world peace: Iraq, Afganistan, Libya, Iran and North
Korea.



Here we have rhetorical strategy or verbal
hygiene and its prime target is to provoke
positive connotations. Like cosmetic surgery,
political euphemism tries to hide the ugly face of
political deeds, and seeks to be a major means
of reality control.
WAR – medical frame of reference
Enemy – criminal frame of reference



"The administration's framings and reframings and its
search for metaphors should be noted.
The initial framing was as a "crime" with "victims" and
"perpetrators" to be "brought to justice" and "punished."
The crime frame entails law, courts, lawyers, trials,
sentencing, appeals, and so on.
It was hours before "crime" changed to "war" with
"casualties," "enemies," "military action," "war powers,"
and so on.







In political and military double-talk,
euphemism is mostly designed to
deceive or to improve our mental image
of offensive reality.
Such an attitude provokes conceptual
engineering which easily changes an
invasion into a rescue mission.
killing = neutralizing an enemy,
bombing = surgical strikes,
killing of civilians= collateral damage,
heavy casualties,
bombs=daisy cutters,
etc.





If our side has to take a military action, we land
on someone's territory, but if our opponents do,
they invade.
The same group of people might be referred to
as terrorists or freedom fighters.
The Pentagon names military action in the Gulf:
Iraqi freedom, a legitimate target, Showdown
Iraq.
Words like atrocity and massacre were absent
from the headlines.
Genocide, ethnic cleansing have continued in
Rwanda and Bosnia.


Because the concept of "war "doesn't fit, there is a
franatic search for metaphors. First, Bush called the
terrorists "cowards"—but this didn't seem to work too
well for martyrs who willing sacrificed their lives for
their moral and religious ideals. More recently he has
spoken of "smoking them out of their holes" as if they
were rodents, and Rumsfeld has spoken of "drying up
the swamp they live in" as if they were snakes or lowly
swamp creatures.
The conceptual metaphors here are Moral Is Up;
Immoral Is Down and Immoral People Are Animals
(that live close to the ground)....


Most of these words consist of attempts to diminish
people's awareness of the degree of violence being
used somewhere.
According to Leech (1990:46) 'The choice of term
embodies a point of view, a political argument (…) it
is a label chosen with strategic tact, to pick out the
optimistic and progressive aspect of the
phenomenon labeled…'



The most frequent fields of reference of euphemisms
used in English language are the following: war, death,
illness, body, gender issue, aging, poverty, race, lying, etc.
The occurrence of euphemisms reveals areas which
the society finds distasteful or alarming.
They act like a mirror of social and cultural realities.









According to the results of our analyses common causes of euphemisms are:
to make a difficult or emotional situation more tolerable; to minimize the
painful impression on the listener, to soften tragic news, e.g. death = pass away,
breathe one’s last, etc.
respect for the person addressed, or a desire to make a favorable impression,
to lend social acceptability: e.g. garbage collector> sanitation engineer, mortician>
funeral director.
to provoke positive connotations, e.g. war on Iraq > freedom operation, liberation
of Iraqi people
to deceive (conceal the truth), political double-talk, e.g. slum > culturally
deprived area
to deal with social or moral taboos, e.g. to go to the toilet > to powder one’s nose,
to wash one’s hands
to deal with superstitious taboos and religious terms
The word is God; speech has a mysterious power; the name evokes the thing.
These three points of view explain many ancient and modern euphemisms:
e.g. cancer>long and incurable illness, the big C, Good luck! >Break your leg.
Mention of certain diseases has often been avoided by many persons. In
many European languages speakers avoid using words such as devil (Cro. crni,
nečastivi, Sp. malo, enemigo) for reasons of superstitions (e.g. Speak of the devil…).






When we speak , we exercise the power of language to
transform reality.
‘Persuasively promoting American values and culture will
work better than either carrots or threats to influence the
Middle East’ (By Joseph S. Nye Jr. in Los Angeles Times, April 25, 2004)
Could we consider euphemisms, metaphors and PC as:
an attack on cognition
an abuse of perception
a loss of reality