The Unrecognized Consequences of Euphemism.

To me, euphemism is a form of prevarication motivated by a fear of reality. Thus its use prevents one from seeing the truth and promotes the consequences of avoiding it.

Frazer, in the New Golden Bough, writes that “Taboos are applied not only to acts and objects but also to words. . . .” Primitive people think of a thing’s name as an integral part of the thing itself. Thus, to use a thing’s name while speaking badly of it in effect injures it. Likewise, knowing a thing’s real name gives one power over it, for one can benefit or harm the thing by using its name. Refusing to use a thing’s real name is an attempt to dissociate oneself form the thing’s undesirable characteristics. So we refuse to speak the real names of many unpleasant bodily functions; instead we refer to them euphemistically.

The rise of politically correct speech is an extension of this principle. We refuse to use traditional ways of speaking of certain races and groups of people in an attempt to dissociate ourselves from the evil that has historically been perpetrated on them. And people generally view this as a positive trend. But they then tend to also dissociate themselves from the actions that inflicted the evil.  To refuse to speak of the descendants of American slaves in traditional ways in an attempt to dissociate myself from the evils that were and often still are inflicted upon them, I also dissociate myself from the actions of society that inflict the evil and thereby absolve myself of any responsibility for it. In such a person’s view, hiding the truth makes the truth go away. It’s a nonreality that they don’t have to bother themselves about, and so the injurious actions continue to be applied and the world gets no better.

But this meager comment is not about such weighty matters. I want to write about love—well, not really, just about what is euphemistically called making love.

Now love is the quintessential human virtue. Jesus tells us to love even our enemies. And God’s love, manifested in forgiveness, is given to all equally. We are advised to love our neighbors, our parents, our children, our countries. And we assume that nothing but good can come of it, regardless of what the facts themselves reveal.

So when we call the act of procreation, read baby making, making love, who for heaven’s sake could ever be against it? When a teenager falls in love, isn’t love making the natural consequence? By not calling the act of procreation by its real name, we have surrendered our power over it. By promoting the goodness of love and calling procreation making love, we have stripped procreation of its awesome responsibilities and consequences. And what is the result? I need not say. Everyone already knows.

But how would teenagers and perhaps adults too act if we called procreation by its real name. How does, “Want to make out?” sound when compared to “Want to make a baby?” One can easily say yes to the former and hell no to the latter. Yet they are one and the same. So if we want to avoid the unfortunate consequences of unwanted pregnancies, we might do well to start using straight talk and eschew euphemism.

What other undesirable behavior is covered up with euphemism? Adultery becomes an affair although it often destroys families and injures innocent children most, greed becomes a striving for success even though it promotes neediness among others, bribery turns into campaign contributions even as it corrupts government—the series is endless. I’m certain any reader can extend it.

So when euphemism is preferred to real names, the way we think about things changes; we disassociate ourselves from their adverse attributes and relinquish much of our control over them. When the words we use have unpleasant connotations, are thoughts are focused on those, but when we use words with pleasant connotations, that focus is lost and so is our power to ameliorate evil.