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Appropriate Uses of Euphemism and JargonWhile euphemism and jargon can be used inappropriately to deceive, they can also be used appropriately. For instance, if I say to a friend that I am sorry her husband "passed away," I am not trying to deceive. I am attempting to tactfully bring up a sensitive subject. And, if medical doctors use jargon among themselves while discussing a medical concern, that is completely appropriate. |
Inappropriate Uses of Euphemism and Jargon
However, if the doctors used the same language to explain a medical condition to a patient, the jargon would be pretentious and inappropriate.
When jargon is used to show off to others or to hide meaning or to deceive, that usage is clearly doublespeak. When euphemism is used not to be tactful or polite, but to hide meaning or deceive, that usage is clearly doublespeak. As Hugh Rawson states in his Dictionary of Euphemisms and Other Doubletalk,
". . .when speakers and writers seek not so much to avoid offense as to deceive, . . .we pass into the universe of dishonest euphemisms, where the conscious elements of circumlocution and doubletalk loom large."
