Assassination euphemisms

[Jonathan Lighter]

1969 Terence Smith in _N.Y. Times_ (Aug. 14) 2: His status as a double agent
was reportedly confirmed by the Central Intelligence Agency which, according
to the sources, suggested that he either be isolated or "terminated with
extreme prejudice." This term is said to be an intelligence euphemism for
execution.

Just how many people in the CIA might have been familiar with this phrase
before its appearance in the _Times_ is another interesting question.  While
"terminate" rings with authenticity as far as I'm concerned, the "extreme
prejudice" stuff sounds like somebody groping for "extreme" emphasis.

Gratuitous SWAG:  the now-familiar grotesque phrase was created at the time
of the incident (apparently June 20, 1969) by a single individual and was
never a general "CIA euphemism."  Its grotesqueness (and the context of its
appearance in print) guaranteed its survival.

JL


On Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 2:20 PM, Herb Stahlke <hfwstahlke at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Herb Stahlke <hfwstahlke at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Assassination euphemisms
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> ChiBemba, IIRC, has a gender distinction between Class 1/2 nouns that
> are largely human nouns and Class 1a/2 nouns that include terms for
> people in public office.  I don't know if they have different verbs
> for killing members of the two classes.
>
> Herb
>
> On Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 9:39 AM, Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>  > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: Assassination euphemisms
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >  Drawing the hard line between an assassination and a contract hit is
> > something I am not prepared to do, but I probably should have put that
> > in as a caveat--the distinction certainly crossed my mind when I put
> > together my version of the list (hence the joke in the end).
> >
> > The problem is that "a contract hit" may well be one of the euphemisms.
> > When the target is political or otherwise important, it's an
> > assassination. When the target is a bit player--e.g., someone who simply
> > offended a gang leader for some reason--it's just a hit. So another
> > "euphemism" would be "to take a contract out on" (or same words in a
> > different order). Another distinction may be that when a government
> > agency or wannabe government group orders or buys the action, it's an
> > assassination. When the contract or order is taken out by a criminal
> > organization, it is not. But this is a weak distinction--consider, for
> > example, some of the murders in the Godfather series, particularly
> > Godfather 3. The murder of a high-positioned cleric qualifies as an
> > assassination under the first definition above, but not the second,
> > because it depends on who ordered it. For example, the poisoning of a
> > Corleone ally may be an assassination (Vatican, after all, is a
> > "country"), but the retaliatory murder (with glasses) does not, because
> > it was ordered by criminals, not by someone within the Vatican
> > hierarchy. For this reason I am not advocating for this distinction,
> > even though I am putting it out as a possibility. A simpler approach
> > might be to claim that all contract killings are assassinations, but
> > that category is not exclusive either. A traditional government assassin
> > of spy novels is still an assassin, even though he may work under
> > orders, not under contract.
> >
> > But, by far the most oblique of assassination euphemisms in the latter
> > context might be "make contact with" the target.
> >
> >     VS-)
> >
> > On 7/14/2010 8:59 AM, Laurence Horn wrote:
> >> At 1:00 AM -0400 7/14/10, Victor Steinbok wrote:
> >>>   retire [smne]/[smne] retired
> >>> help to meet with an accident/met with an accident
> >>> make/made way for new leadership
> >>> eliminate
> >>> pave/[d] the way for the new government
> >>> end the career
> >>> smoke/been smoked
> >>> send a love letter
> >>> cash/[ed] in the insurance/retirement policy
> >>> [smne] cashed out/cashed the chips
> >>> send to the morgue
> >>> write a one-way ticket
> >>> target
> >>> drop
> >>> pay respects [or, give smne the respect that he deserves]
> >>> pay a visit
> >>> silence [smne]
> >>> "Paulie? Won't see him no more."
> >>>
> >> If we've moved beyond assassination to jargon for simple contract
> >> hits and such, there's always "sleeping with the fishes" for the
> >> aftermath.
> >>
> >> LH
> >>
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org