On Euphemisms/2

(Foto Reinhard Krause/Reuters)

In a previous post I wrote about a book on euphemisms, Euphemania by Ralph Keyes, quoting from a review in The Boston Globe:

"... telling citizens that torture is 'abuse' and mercenaries are 'contractors' — or in Orwell’s words, that burning and bombing villages is 'pacification' — is a different sort of enterprise. These euphemisms — the top-down terminology invented and deployed to serve the interests of the coiners — are the ones that give 'euphemism' a bad name."

And now we have Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Adviser for the Obama administration, who calls the war on Libya "kinetic military action". A masterpiece. You can read more here.