The Hindu Business Line : Spade by another name

JOHN Knox who said, "I have learned to call wickedness by its own terms: A fig, a fig, and a spade a spade", (translating an old Latin proverb ficus ficus, ligonem ligonem vocat), will, in these days of `political correctness' in the use of words and phrases, have no takers.

In fact, in the US, the word "calling a spade a spade" itself is taboo, spade being a slang term for an African-American; so is `picnic' to be shunned being the description of the lynching of a slave by the White Americans.

The perceived need for increased sophistication in inter-personal relations and social intercourse has been spawning a whole cornucopia of substitutes for direct, forthright or blunt usages.

For instance, it sounds more elegant to think of the death of a person as "attaining the lotus feet" of his favoured deity, or going to his "heavenly abode", or simply "passing away".

Dignity of labour is certainly enhanced by calling a dog catcher a "canine controller", or a paper boy "a media courier".

With the help of evasive word play, a sluggard becomes an "under-achiever", elderly morph into "chronologically advanced" gentry, sacking large numbers is converted into "downsizing", deaths of innocent civilians during a war end up as "collateral damage".

Referring to a person as "differently abled" and not "handicapped" or "disabled", shows greater refinement and respect.

Once upon a time, in the international circuit, no one was shy of calling a country poor or backward, but soon the derogatory sense was sought to be masked by the use of the more palatable terms of "low-income" and "developing".

The BBC, the other day, came up with a new term for terrorists: "misguided criminals"! If you want to impress as being up-to-the-minute in your mastery of the lexicon of flexitalk (euphemism for euphemism!), always use "thought shower" for brainstorming and "deferred success" for failure!

Are these just semantic acrobatics? No, I think they serve a genuine purpose. Roundabout expressions not only help avoid causing hurt but also bring about a measure of acceptance of disagreeable experiences or situations. In this sense, there can be no denying their soothing effect.

In general too, one who is felicitous and fetching in the choice of expressions can be sure of success in winning friends and influencing people.

B. S. Raghavan

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