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

[Laurence Horn]

On Jan 22, 2013, at 11:51 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> I agree. "Artificial calamari" says it's fake right there in the name.
>
> What kind of euphemism is that?
>
> JL

Ok, I withdraw the nomination. I probably should have gone with "calamari", which is presumably when the pig bung would actually appear as on the menu when you're ordering it, just as artificial crabmeat (= surimi) generally still gets sold as "crab" at sushi joints, some of which do also offer "real crabmeat" sushi at a somewhat higher price.  In grocery stores, the "artificial" would need to be specified.  In fact, I wouldn't see "artificial crab(meat)" as a euphemism, since one's natural assumption would be that it refers to a fish product, as it does (pollock, usually, IIRC).  But no one not in the know would suspect that "artificial calamari" comes from a pig, much less from the designated part of one.

LH

>
> On Tue, Jan 22, 2013 at 10:36 AM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC <
> Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
>> Subject:      Re: early euphemism of the year candidate--"artificial
>> calamari"
>>              (UNCLASSIFIED)
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
>> Caveats: NONE
>>
>> 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
>> ---------------
>>> --------
>>> 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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>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
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