Tactful Expression
We as a society use euphemisms in our everyday life to discuss various topics in our everyday life. We say things like passed away as a substitute for death, let go of instead of fired, or even correctional facility as a substitute for prison. Two extremely common euphemisms we use daily without even realizing it are “handicapped” and “disabled” as substitutes for calling someone crippled.
Nancy Mairs writes about how euphemisms are prevalent in society and how the words ‘handicapped’ and ‘disabled’ are not accurate portrayals of he condition as she describes herself rather as a cripple. She discussed how people “wince at the word cripple” and how society creates euphemisms for people like her to make themselves more comfortable with talking about someone that is disabled. Mairs also developes the point that substitutes like these are “pure verbal garbage” and creating euphemisms for everything causes the degeneration of the english language.
Euphemisms are mainly formed when words start to develop negative connotations behind them that cause the people saying them to feel uneasy and at a state of unrest every time they hear the word. And if society continues creating euphemisms every time a word of phrase makes people feel uncomfortable, we will have countless words all used to describe the same thing. Take the portrayal of developing nations for instance, this term was derived from the phrase “less developed” which came from “underdeveloped” which came from “undeveloped” and as Mairs states as “pure verbal garbage”. These euphemisms all work to describe the same place but don't change the reality about what you are describing, so maybe its better to put our efforts to that instead.
I liked the powerful ending to your piece, where you said "These euphemisms all work to describe the same place but don't change the reality about what you are describing, so maybe its better to put our efforts to that instead". I think society uses euphemisms to "brush uncomfortable problems under the rug". The topic of disability has a big taboo around it in modern society, so they keep coming up with different words to address it to bury the problem out of view. This however doesn't address or change anything about the problem.
ReplyDeleteYour blog nicely critiques society’s use of euphemisms, highlighting how terms like “handicapped” and “disabled” can cause doubt in the realities of being “crippled,” which also relates to Nancy Mairsargument against such “verbal garbage.”
ReplyDeleteI really like how you were able to talk about Mairs’ claim, and how you had used her evidence but established your own commentary to said evidence to indirectly tell the reader that your agree with her and her ideals. Doing so made your blog a more informative piece instead of a persuasive one as Mairs’ work already did most of the persuading through her evidence, and your commentary helped established the informative tone that made your blog whole.
ReplyDelete