[Ads-l] Euphemism: unaliving

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Thanks Kelly. Apologies for not seeing that article.
JSTOR coverage for the journal American Speech only includes 1925-1999
(Vol. 1, No. 1 - Vol. 74, No. 4).
Some journals have three or five year delays before appearing in JSTOR
(moving walls), but American Speech seems to have a 25 year delay (in
the version of JSTOR that I can see).

Garson

On Thu, Jan 16, 2025 at 8:40 AM Kelly Wright
<wrightlinguistics at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
>
> We covered *unalive* at ATNW in August of 2022 (AS 97.3
> <https://doi.org/10.1215/00031283-10096035>). It is also discussed in our
> algospeak installment (AS 99.1 <https://doi.org/10.1215/00031283-11186920>).
>
> I can't attach them, but if you'd like the PDFs, let me know!
>
>
> Best,
> K.
>
> On Thu, Jan 16, 2025 at 2:31 AM ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Social media services such as YouTube and twitter rely on advertising;
> > hence, they penalize users for employing terms like "killing" or
> > "murdering" which are not deemed advertiser-friendly. Thus, a set of
> > euphemisms have been popularized.
> >
> > Here is an excerpt from a recent tweet about jailbreaking an AI system:
> >
> > Social Network: x-twitter
> > Handle: Pliny the Liberator @elder_plinius
> > Timestamp: 6:25 PM, Jan 13, 2025
> > https://x.com/elder_plinius/status/1878946571565650264
> >
> > [Begin excerpt]
> > Not to cause alarm, but if this agent had access to funds it would
> > likely be capable of unaliving people
> > [End excerpt]
> >
> > The OED has an entry for the adjective "unalive" with two senses.
> > Citations begin in 1828 and 1905.
> >
> > [Begin OED excerpt]
> > A1. Not fully susceptible or awake to something.
> >   1828 Dry, mechanical theorists, unalive to sentiment and fancy.
> >   L. Hunt, Lord Byron & Some Contemporary (ed. 2) vol. I. 377
> > B2. Lacking in vitality; not living. Also figurative.
> >    1905 How you can think yourself empty and unalive I don't know.
> >    M. Dods, Letter 14 April (1911) 176
> > [End OED excerpt]
> >
> > I don’t see any germane matches for "unaliving" in the ADS mailing
> > list archive or on Barry Popik’s website.
> >
> > Here is a germane Associated Press article from 2023 which mentions
> > the verb form of "unalive":
> >
> > Website: AP news service
> > Article: Online, 'unalive' means death or suicide. Experts say it
> > might help kids discuss those things
> > Author: Jeff McMillan
> > Timestamp: 12:38 AM EST, July 14, 2023
> >
> > https://apnews.com/article/unalive-suicide-tiktok-language-death-e605d4da81c02335a3b60d27c40562bc
> >
> > [Begin excerpt]
> > “Unalive” refers to death by suicide or homicide. It can function as
> > adjective or verb and joins similar phrasing — like “mascara,” to mean
> > sexual assault — coined by social media users as a workaround to fool
> > algorithms on sites and apps that censor posts containing discussion
> > of explicit or violent content.
> > [End excerpt]
> >
> > A quick search in the twitter archive uncovers a pertinent tweet from
> > August 2012:
> >
> > Social Network: x-twitter
> > Handle: Ben Howarth @BenniBWFC
> > Timestamp: 6:50 PM, Aug 6, 2012
> > https://x.com/BenniBWFC/status/232609720760954880
> >
> > [Begin excerpt]
> > @AmyLouise395 @erinmarybrew done me a favour! Can't handle the
> > dizzyness anymore! It's unaliving me ;)
> > [End excerpt]
> >
> > On January 16, 2025 a Google search generated the following AI analysis:
> >
> > [Begin analysis from Google AI]
> > "Unalive" is a slang term that means to kill or die by suicide. It's
> > often used in online spaces to avoid censorship on platforms that
> > remove content about suicide or self-harm.
> > [End analysis from Google AI]
> >
> > Garson
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org