Do euphemisms get on your nerves?

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I can't stand euphemisms, can't, can't can't! They give me a bad mood when someone uses them.

Eg:
"I need space" (meaning: I'm tired of you)
"It's been a while" (meaning: It's been ages)
"I'm not sure" (meaning: NO)

Yes, sometimes I have trouble figuring out what a person is trying to tell me if they blather or talk around a point. If the euphemism is a particularly obscure piece of slang, my reaction is usually wtf? I prefer language polite but plain in meaning.

No, not really. If they are more obscure than those given in the OP, then possibly.

Euphemisms don't bother me when uttered by others. I never use them myself. I always call things by their right names.

ruveyn

How does I'm not sure mean no? So I shouldn't say that anymore if I don't mean no?

No, because I don't realise they are euphemisms.

Euphemisms don't bother me that much. I will attempt to avoid euphemizing you but I would appreciate your letting me know if I say something that is unclear to you.

To me "I need space" gets interpreted as "Give me some me time". And "I'm not sure" gets interpreted as "Let me think about it, but likely not." "It's been a while" for me, gets used in the context of asking one to do something, or if he remembers something, and I interpret it to mean, "I've forgotten" or "I need some relearning curve time".

Oh no. I'm guilty of using the first and third phrases.

Actually "I'm not sure" means something more like "don't make me decide right now" or "don't count on it" when I use it. "I need space" isn't a euphemism when I use it though. I usually mean it literally. Maybe I should stop using it if people are going to interpret it a different way.

A euphemism I personally hate is "he was let go" for "we fired him from the job". Being "let go" actually sounds pretty nice, like "yay, I'm free!". It leaves out the more unpleasent aspect of "we're not going to pay you anymore". It's a terrible euphemism.

I also feel weird being forced to use the phrase "passed away" instead of "died". Passed away from what? I don't even believe in an afterlife. I wish someone would come up with a better euphemism for non-religious folks to use.

I'M ATHEIST, DEAL WITH IT YOU NTs

It's just a courtesy euphemism, a sentence of politeness and habit, no need to overanalyze and try to cram in some atheist beliefs if you're talking about somebody who died

I'm not trying to cram beliefs. I use the phrase. It just feels weird on a gut level to me when I use it.

Then what would be the difference between a euphemism and an idiom. To me, "he was let go" has become more like an idiom, at least in the US, and it could mean either "fired" or "laid off", neither of which is real pleasant, though most of the time when "laid off" is what happened they say "laid off" because "let go" has come to mean the same thing as "fired". It would never occur to me if you said, "he was let go" that you meant "set free", unless the context implied you meant it euphorically.

Euphemisms, unlike idioms, analogies, metaphors etc. are used solely to disguise unpleasant things in neutral sounding expressions. Like "collateral damage" means "oops, we accidentaly bombed a hospital near out target. oh well".

Yes, it's the disguise I hate.

In the recent lay-offs, our Management kept using the expression "released", which is even worse than "let go". "We'll be releasing some of you" (as if we'd been held prisoners and were now getting our freedom), "The company has decided to release you."

And this reminds me of the euphemism I most hate: "Don't let me keep you.", when actually it's THEM who want to leave.

I hadn't heard the "released" one yet. Ick! I suppose it's because willmark is right and "let go" isn't a euphamism anymore. It's just an idiom for "fired".

I will now annoy you with my NT semi-inconsistent embrace of euphamisms. I dislike euphamisms when they are meant to shift blame away from whoever is being intentionally hurtful: like using "released" which isn't yet an idiom for "fired" so it implies that the people WANTED to leave. So I also dislike "collateral damage" to mean "we killed innocent people by accident" because it sounds like a way to weasel out of making an apology for harm done.

But I embrace and use euphamisms that are meant to avoid saying things that cause pain or are ugly (but that don't warrant an apology, like killing people by accident). So I use "passed away" when talking to grieving people because the death of a loved one hurts so much that sometimes the best way to deal with it is in little pieces so it can be processed slowly. Saying "passed away" instead of "died" leaves the grieving person a little bit of space to process the terrible truth as slowly as they need to.

In another part of WP I used the euphamistic "he would..." because I didn't want to type "date rape" because that's so ugly and awful that I just wanted to imply it. Woops. Another poster reminded me to "spell it out- we're aspies". Good thing you weren't in that thread or you would have wanted to rip my head off.

Last edited by Janissy on 01 Jul 2009, 4:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.

If someone had said that in my presence that would have earned them a sarcastic laugh.


You see. You say Aspies have trouble reading the intended meaning of other persons, but you seem to be reading the people around you very well. Actually "Don't let me keep you." to me is kind of context contingent. I might say that to someone if I know they will be late if they don't get going. Usually if it is them who wants to leave, I can read it on their face. I guess that's the Aspie difference.

For me it's more the mental health euphemisms I hate..
Like "higher level of care" (getting committed.. care isn't involved)
or when the call an antipsychotic a "mood stabilizer"

Edit:
The ones you said I'm not so much sure I mind..

Sometimes people DO need space... particularly aspies. Like if I need space, it doesn't usually have much to do with being tired of anyone unless they're someone particularly exhausting to be around, and that doesn't mean I'm tired of them, just that I'm too tired to be able to think/talk. Or that I want to be alone to go cry. Or am melting down, and don't want anyone to see... etc.

I'm not sure of the difference between "a while" and "ages".. I agree with the thing about it meaning needing a relearning curve, or meaning having forgotten something.. I might say it's been awhile since I took genetics, so I need to go look something up..

If "I don't know" actually does mean "no" then it sucks, but sometimes it means "I have to go check" or "probably, but I don't want to get your hopes up" or "I'm too overwhelmed to think about it right now"... or it can even mean "If you make me answer now, it's no, but it might be yes later"

Last edited by Maggiedoll on 01 Jul 2009, 5:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.