"erectile dysfunction" -- not for tender ears?

[Geoffrey Nunberg]

This is two years old but I just ran into it. For the taboo avoidance file:

> State employees, have no fear -- thanks to the General Assembly, your health coverage will continue to cover drugs to treat erectile dysfunction. Gov. Tim Kaine (D) had recommended cutting funding for Viagra and similar drugs… The General Assembly agreed to restore funding for the drugs…But are lawmakers squeamish? When Kaine recommended the cut, he spelled out the words "erectile dysfunction." But in the assembly's budget, the pills are referred to more obliquely as "ED drugs."
> Rosalind Helderman, Washington Post
> http://voices.washingtonpost.com/virginiapolitics/2010/03/general_assembly_stands_firm_o.htm

I'd have figured that anybody who's old enough to know what the words "erectile dysfunction" mean wouldn't have to be protected from them. Still, we're talking about the Virginia legislature here.

Geoff

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