early euphemism of the year candidate--"artificial calamari" (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill AMRDEC]

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Doesn't a euphemism have to have an acknowledged subtext?  For example,
if I say goshdarn, most people would recognize that it is in lieu of
Goddamn.  But I get the impression that customers who buy artificial
calamari don't know that they are getting the south end of a northbound
pig.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> Behalf Of Laurence Horn
> Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2013 10:13 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: early euphemism of the year candidate--"artificial calamari"
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> --------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      early euphemism of the year candidate--"artificial
> calamari"
>
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> --------
>
> ...as a label for pig bung.  No, not pork bun as so labeled at your
> neighborhood Asian market, but hog rectum--bleached, sliced, deep
> fried, and served up with lemon.  It's not clear how much of this is
> available for your domestic consumption, however.  More at
>
> http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-
> archives/episode/484/doppelgangers?act=1
>
> To connect this with a recent thread, note the eloquent explanation
for
> the resistance to the idea of pig bung in calamari clothing.  After
> noting the possibility of being put off by either "the visual"
> associated with hog rectum or the fact that some would-be calamari
> eaters wouldn't want to find out they were eating "pork, period". Ira
> Glass brings up there's the linguistic factor. As Farmer Ron from
> Missouri drawls at around 10:15 of the above, "Just because of the
word
> 'bung', probably. I mean, people don't just want to jump and say 'Man,
> I'm gonna eat me some bung tonight'. I mean, y'know, that's just the
> way it is."  (The transcript doesn't do justice to the delivery.)
>
> We've come a long way from "skim milk masquerades as cream", baby!
>
> LH
>
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