euphemism of the year

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On 9/7/06, Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
>
> On 9/7/06, Barnhart <barnhart at highlands.com> wrote:
> >
> > Try "alternative interrogation" in the morning news.
>
> Not sure if this particular collocation will have staying power. It
> might, as shorthand for "alternative interrogation
> procedures/methods/techniques". (Bush's actual phrasing: "And so the
> CIA used an alternative set of procedures.")

Looks like "alternative interrogation techniques" might be developing
as the euphemism of choice. Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo
caught CNN using the phrase in this article:

-----
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/09/18/congress.tribunals/
John Ullyot, a spokesman for Senate Armed Services Chairman John
Warner, said Monday that draft legislation was headed to Capitol Hill
with "new language," for its proposal that would allow the CIA to
continue alternative interrogation techniques on suspected terrorists.
-----


--Ben Zimmer

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