On the psychology of euphemisms...
Feb. 20th, 2005 01:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexpgpA long time ago, back when I used to write a lot of articles for computer magazines, I was invited to beta-test and later, "seed" the Byte Information Exchange (BIX). It was a very lively community at the time (~1984?) that covered a broad range of topics, both technical and not.
From time to time, whenever I hear a new, euphemized term introduced into the language, I am reminded of a post made by one of the other "early adopters" on BIX, and until a few minutes ago, I dispaired of ever reproducing the same clarity of expression in discussing what one might call the "psychology of euphemisms." In flipping through an old dead-wood journal, though, I found the following note, based on that post:
Cheers...
From time to time, whenever I hear a new, euphemized term introduced into the language, I am reminded of a post made by one of the other "early adopters" on BIX, and until a few minutes ago, I dispaired of ever reproducing the same clarity of expression in discussing what one might call the "psychology of euphemisms." In flipping through an old dead-wood journal, though, I found the following note, based on that post:
Some time after being founded, the Rome (NY) Hospital for the Feebleminded became the Rome Hospital for the Retarded. Later, it was renamed the Rome Mental Hospital. Still later, it was renamed the Rome Center for the Developmentally Disabled. Today, it is the Rome Facility for the Emotionally and Developmentally Challenged.According to this journal, I was still participating in BIX in 1991.
Changing the words never helps to reduce the predjudice. It just gives the word-cointers the nice, warm, fuzzy illusion of really having done something about the problem.
Cheers...
