EPTEuphemisms are everywhere, if one word starts to offend anyone, it's usually changed immediately. Certain changes like this complicate the already confusing English language, and leave non-native English speaking citizens to be confused when they first enter the United States. Especially in the United States, we are blessed with the diversity that we can encounter here, but to a non-native speaker, this can be quite overwhelming. With the use of euphemisms becoming more widely popular, some newcomers to the United States might feel out of the loop when native speakers are talking about certain topics. Euphemisms happen all around us. Popular words that have been euphemized are words like; fat, poor, handicapped, and homeless. Since the word "fat" is so harsh, new words are brought out, like big-boned, chubby, and voluptuous. Euphemisms also help job titles greatly. No one would like to be called a garbage collector, janitor, or even a secretary. So society has brought out words like waste management worker, personal assistant, and a caretaker. If someone happened to be poor, handicapped, and worked as a janitor, they would be known as a low-income, disabled custodian. Society has become so sensitive and self conscious of their actual personality, that they can't deal with what they are or events that happen. Death is a big factor why euphemisms are used. For example, the word's "passed on" and "passed away" help describe someone who has died. When an English as a second language student first hears the phrase "passed on" he might think of someone as passing a class, or passing by, as in walking, but really it means someone who has died. This can also go for the word "expired", instead of something not being valid, someone is actually trying to use the word to make the act of dying less harsh. If a certain military branch has to open fire and kill someone, they aren't actually killing anyone, but they are "neutralizing the target" or when a major oil company has an oil spill and pollutes the ocean with waste or oil, it is called "runoff of organic phase drilling muds." When talking without euphemisms with fellow peers, the tension is not as bad, but when dealing with the public view and our global press, euphemisms must be used at all times.
One big topic for debate in North Dakota is the use of the University of North Dakota's nickname "The Fighting Sioux". The name originates from 1930, but since 2000, and especially now, it has become a topic for debate. Lately, the word Sioux has been slowly being taken away for its meaning of "snake in the grass" and has been replaced with the more politically correct, or euphemism, Lakota, which actually means allies or friends, which is almost the complete opposite of its predecessor. This is just one example that euphemisms are used in race, though. Another largely talked about debate in our nation is the use of words like African-American or Afro-American, or even American of African descent. African Americans shy away from the word black, because they are not the color black. Though some will accept the word black, it makes others cringe. This goes the same with African American. Many people believe that they are black, and not African American, because they have never lived in Africa. Also, with words like Native American or Indian. Persons of Native American descent, used to be known as Indians for the longest time, but since society has become a little more sensitive, the word as started to move away to describe Native Americans, because it is also the word used for people who are from India. The many different uses and descriptions that persons take in our society complicate the overall uses of the words and overall make euphemisms a topic of debate, because of the different discussions it brings up in our society.
This is just something I whipped up real quick, but it's something that I recently learned about in my linguistic class, and that class might make me change my profession, at least for a few years, so that I can teach ESL some where and get out of United States for awhile.
