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

[Jonathan Lighter]

I agree. "Artificial calamari" says it's fake right there in the name.

What kind of euphemism is that?

JL

On Tue, Jan 22, 2013 at 10:36 AM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC <
Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:

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> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
> Subject:      Re: early euphemism of the year candidate--"artificial
> calamari"
>               (UNCLASSIFIED)
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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"
> >
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > --------
> >
> > ...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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