Honorverse Euphemisms

cthia wrote:In today's generation, I can see a teenager buying a T-shirt and proudly wearing it in public that says sex slave.

In fact I can imagine someone getting a sex slave tattoo.

Prostitute, or slut...not so much. You?

I am pretty sure that I have seem a woman (young but not a teenager) wearing a t-shirt with "Slut" written across the chest in sparkly pink sequins walking around town

Grashtel wrote:

cthia wrote:In today's generation, I can see a teenager buying a T-shirt and proudly wearing it in public that says sex slave.

In fact I can imagine someone getting a sex slave tattoo.

Prostitute, or slut...not so much. You?

I am pretty sure that I have seem a woman (young but not a teenager) wearing a t-shirt with "Slut" written across the chest in sparkly pink sequins walking around town

And it doesn't surprise me either.
It goes toward the point I'm trying to make.
Euphemisms are subjective, are subjective, are subjective.

You may always find exceptions to any rule.

Querying a mature audience. My point still stands.
The gist of it still stands.

Because you have found an exception do you disagree with what I have posited?

One bad apple don't spoil the whole bunch.

Cum se cum sa.

cthia wrote:Euphemisms are subjective, are subjective, are subjective.

Indeed, your previous example of the hand-wringing over "Black" vs. "Negro" boils down to whether one prefers the English or Spanish/Portuguese words that mean precisely the same thing. (The newer "African-American" does not mean the same thing, because it can't logically be applied to people who aren't Americans as the other words can.)

Because of the subjectivity, we have what I call the Euphemism Treadmill. Let us use as an example, the word "crippled" and its successors.

Being crippled is a bad thing, so we were told to call crippled people "handicapped" instead. So we did.

Being handicapped is a bad thing, so we were told to call crippled handicapped people "disabled" instead. So we did.

Being disabled is a bad thing, so we are told to call crippled handicapped disabled people "differently-abled" instead. I'm tired of the treadmill, so I've stepped off the damned thing.

It doesn't matter what name you use to describe crippled/handicapped/disabled person as such; you are describing a negative. Once everyone catches up to the fact that the euphemism means the same thing as the word it replaces, the new word needs to be replaced.

If we allow for two millenia of this nonsense, I shudder to think of the convoluted circumlocutions that will be necessary to placate the perpetually aggrieved.

I think a grat Honorverse example of euphemism is the "Citizen ${Rank}" nonsense, which came from precisely the sort of folks who demand we sweep away the ancien regime and all its trappings, including language. Shannon Foraker's casual disregard of their dictates showed her to be a kindred spirit. How could I possibly root for her to fail?

As someone who is crippled/disabled/handicapped, I must say I have never heard of the term differently-abled. Where did you find it?

TheMonster wrote:

cthia wrote:Euphemisms are subjective, are subjective, are subjective.

Indeed, your previous example of the hand-wringing over "Black" vs. "Negro" boils down to whether one prefers the English or Spanish/Portuguese words that mean precisely the same thing. (The newer "African-American" does not mean the same thing, because it can't logically be applied to people who aren't Americans as the other words can.)

Because of the subjectivity, we have what I call the Euphemism Treadmill. Let us use as an example, the word "crippled" and its successors.

Being crippled is a bad thing, so we were told to call crippled people "handicapped" instead. So we did.

Being handicapped is a bad thing, so we were told to call crippled handicapped people "disabled" instead. So we did.

Being disabled is a bad thing, so we are told to call crippled handicapped disabled people "differently-abled" instead. I'm tired of the treadmill, so I've stepped off the damned thing.

It doesn't matter what name you use to describe crippled/handicapped/disabled person as such; you are describing a negative. Once everyone catches up to the fact that the euphemism means the same thing as the word it replaces, the new word needs to be replaced.

If we allow for two millenia of this nonsense, I shudder to think of the convoluted circumlocutions that will be necessary to placate the perpetually aggrieved.

I think a grat Honorverse example of euphemism is the "Citizen ${Rank}" nonsense, which came from precisely the sort of folks who demand we sweep away the ancien regime and all its trappings, including language. Shannon Foraker's casual disregard of their dictates showed her to be a kindred spirit. How could I possibly root for her to fail?

cthia turns his head to the debate referee and yells...
'What he said...what he said!.'

Excellent!

What's in a name, that which we call a rose by any other still smell as sweet...or sour!

TheMonster wrote:
Indeed, your previous example of the hand-wringing over "Black" vs. "Negro" boils down to whether one prefers the English or Spanish/Portuguese words that mean precisely the same thing. (The newer "African-American" does not mean the same thing, because it can't logically be applied to people who aren't Americans as the other words can.)

Because of the subjectivity, we have what I call the Euphemism Treadmill. Let us use as an example, the word "crippled" and its successors.

Being crippled is a bad thing, so we were told to call crippled people "handicapped" instead. So we did.

Being handicapped is a bad thing, so we were told to call crippled handicapped people "disabled" instead. So we did.

Being disabled is a bad thing, so we are told to call crippled handicapped disabled people "differently-abled" instead. I'm tired of the treadmill, so I've stepped off the damned thing.

It doesn't matter what name you use to describe crippled/handicapped/disabled person as such; you are describing a negative. Once everyone catches up to the fact that the euphemism means the same thing as the word it replaces, the new word needs to be replaced.

If we allow for two millenia of this nonsense, I shudder to think of the convoluted circumlocutions that will be necessary to placate the perpetually aggrieved.

I think a grat Honorverse example of euphemism is the "Citizen ${Rank}" nonsense, which came from precisely the sort of folks who demand we sweep away the ancien regime and all its trappings, including language. Shannon Foraker's casual disregard of their dictates showed her to be a kindred spirit. How could I possibly root for her to fail?

cthia turns his head to the debate referee and yells...
'What he said...what he said!.'

Excellent!

What's in a name, that which we call a rose by any other still smell as sweet...or sour!

I particularly like the euphemism treadmill reference.
I always thought that euphemisms were much like a dog chasing his tail, mostly.

wholf359 wrote:As someone who is crippled/disabled/handicapped, I must say I have never heard of the term differently-abled. Where did you find it?

Academic grievance seekers.

wholf359 wrote:As someone who is crippled/disabled/handicapped, I must say I have never heard of the term differently-abled. Where did you find it?

It is or was around in the heavily PC crowd IIRC, fortunately it never caught on in general usage. And I am saying that as someone for whom it would actually apply, my brain simply works differently to a normal/neurotypical/average person's one

wholf359 wrote:As someone who is crippled/disabled/handicapped, I must say I have never heard of the term differently-abled. Where did you find it?

I don't know where TheMonster first heard it, but I first heard the term at least a decade ago. I realize it's a bit of a sensitive subject, but because of when and where I grew up, I've always used the term "handicapped". Now, I understand that people object to that term, and I understand the reasons, but to me, it sounds a lot less offensive than "crippled". "Disabled" is okay, to me, but I still tend to use handicapped. "Differently-abled" just sounds insulting.

TheMonster wrote:

cthia wrote:Euphemisms are subjective, are subjective, are subjective.

Indeed, your previous example of the hand-wringing over "Black" vs. "Negro" boils down to whether one prefers the English or Spanish/Portuguese words that mean precisely the same thing. (The newer "African-American" does not mean the same thing, because it can't logically be applied to people who aren't Americans as the other words can.)

Because of the subjectivity, we have what I call the Euphemism Treadmill. Let us use as an example, the word "crippled" and its successors.

Being crippled is a bad thing, so we were told to call crippled people "handicapped" instead. So we did.

Being handicapped is a bad thing, so we were told to call crippled handicapped people "disabled" instead. So we did.

Being disabled is a bad thing, so we are told to call crippled handicapped disabled people "differently-abled" instead. I'm tired of the treadmill, so I've stepped off the damned thing.

It doesn't matter what name you use to describe crippled/handicapped/disabled person as such; you are describing a negative. Once everyone catches up to the fact that the euphemism means the same thing as the word it replaces, the new word needs to be replaced.

If we allow for two millenia of this nonsense, I shudder to think of the convoluted circumlocutions that will be necessary to placate the perpetually aggrieved.

I think a grat Honorverse example of euphemism is the "Citizen ${Rank}" nonsense, which came from precisely the sort of folks who demand we sweep away the ancien regime and all its trappings, including language. Shannon Foraker's casual disregard of their dictates showed her to be a kindred spirit. How could I possibly root for her to fail?

Not sure if this has any relevance, but I highly recommend watching this TED Talk with Aimee Mullins (or at least just the first few minutes of it, which has some relevance to this thread). If you don't know who she is, she's a double-amputee, having both legs removed just below the knees at the age of two. She is now a model, actress, and athlete: http://youtu.be/dTwXeZ4GkzI

This other one is shorter, but pretty good as well. The wooden legs are gorgeous: http://youtu.be/JQ0iMulicgg

Howard T. Map-addict wrote:Battle Fleet was originally formed to fight battles.
IfIRC, it was a fan who first suggested that name!
So 'no' not a euphemism.

HTM

captainofthelist wrote:Every time I read the title Battle Fleet, I cannot help but think it's such a euphemism. After all- BF never fought any battles, aside from policial and bureaucratic infighting within the SL.

Can you think of any other Honorverse Euphemisms?

Thanks HTM.
I was readying for bed, Gemma is leering at me, and I was thinking about that Battle Fleet thingy.

Wait one laborious minute!

So I logged back on to call him on it.
But you already did.

My two cents, a penny's worth anyways (inflations's a euphemistic beeotch these days)...
"If it's true that Battle Fleet never fought any battles, then that doesn't make it a euphemism. It makes it a lie!