How many layers of obfuscation on the average euphemism?

[Victor Steinbok]

I think, I've heard this song before...

     VS-)

On 3/12/2012 1:53 PM, Charles C Doyle wrote:
> Then there's "let go"--when the employer reluctantly acquiesces to the employee's desire to not have a job.
>
> Charlie
>
> ________________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Larry Sheldon [LarrySheldon at COX.NET]
> Sent: Monday, March 12, 2012 1:42 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: How many layers of obfuscation on the average euphemism?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The question came to mind trying to parse (decode?  decrypt?)
> "rightsized", which you might mistakenly think from context is something
> done to a company, but is actually a way of making a human being disappear.
>
> "Rightsized" hides the depressor in "downsized".
>
> "Downsized" obfuscates the implied humanity in "layed off" or "furloughed".
>
> Here the track gets hard to read:  "layed off" seems to be an attempt to
> de-sting "fired" which has taken on an aura of misbehavior that it did
> not have in times past. But it picks up a vague stench of "cast away",
> "discarded", "shitcanned" while "furloughed" wants the listener to
> believe that the person chose this action because it is such a good
> idea, like a "vacation".
>
> Dead ends (like the jobs being discussed( seem to include "dehired",
> "disemployed", and "management empire building thwarted".
>

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