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WHY WE USE Euphemisms
There are several reasons why people use euphemisms:
For Protection
Euphemisms for death and dying are often used to protect someone, whether it's the person speaking the words or those hearing them. We may be looking for a more gentle way to deliver the news of death to someone or a way to provide comfort, despite the grief of the situation.
To Avoid Being Rude and Offensive
The goal here is to avoid increasing the hurt and pain of someone by being too direct since that could be interpreted and felt as being blunt, crass, or rude. We want to protect those around us by not "rubbing it in," so we might use a euphemism to refer to death.
To Avoid Discomfort
Death and dying are a natural part of life, but they make many people feel uncomfortable or anxious. Other kinds of language may be easier to use and less anxiety-provoking.
Our Own Grief Feelings
In order to use direct words about death, the speaker has to deal with his or her own feelings of grief and loss. Explaining to someone else that a loved one "didn't make it" is sometimes easier than saying that "she died." Death is final, and saying it out loud can be difficult when we're struggling to cope with the situation.
Out of Partial Denial
Similarly, using the word "dead" makes it difficult to deny the reality. And, psychologically, while denial clearly needs to turn to acceptance, a little bit of denial is not all bad as a short-term coping mechanism. Indirect language can sometimes be a helpful way to mentally and emotionally handle your feelings gradually.
To Offer Spiritual Comfort
For those who believe in certain faiths, the emphasis in death is the afterlife. Thus, saying that someone "went to be with the Lord" may not be an avoidance tactic at all, but rather a shared reminder of the comfort found in that belief.
MEDICAL Euphemisms For:
- Died: passes away, departed, bit the big one, bought the farm, bit the dust, croaked, kicked the bucket, eternal celestial dirt-nap (Neal Boortz-ism), gave up the ghost, pushing up daisies, departed, didn't make it, is in a better place, expired
- Obese: overweight, big-boned, portly
- Short stature: vertically challenged
- Old: senior, mature, over the hill
- Vomit: emesis, chunks, barf, toss your cookies
- fart: flatulence, passing gas, breaking wind, fir
MEDICAL Metaphors
- Biological Clock
- Blinding Headache
- Burning Pain
- Cough up a Lung
- Fighting an Infection
- Goin’ to hell in a hand basket
- Going Downhill Fast
- Golden Years
- Heart Attack
- Hitch in your Giddyup
- I'd have to feel better to die
- My Feet are Killing me
- Older than Dirt
- Orphan Drug
- Pain Killer
- Plumb tuckered out
- Stomach is in Knots
- Stove Up
- Thunderclap Headache
- Too Weak to Whip a Gnat
- Train Wreck
- Under the Weather
- War on Drugs
- When I was born the Dead Sea was just sick
- Worn Slap Out
The Best MEDICAL Oxymorons
- Almost or Slightly pregnant
- Angry Patient
- Balding Hair
- Bad or Poor or ill Health
- Benign Neglect
- Blind Eye
- Blurry Vision
- Cleaarly Confused
- Cold Sweat
- Easy Labor
- History of Present illness
- Ill Health
- Immature Adult
- Impatient Patient
- Incomplete Cure
- Inconclusive Diagnosis
- Justifiably Paranoid
- Numb Feeling
- Passive Aggressive
- Regularly Irregular heart rhythm
- Restless Sleep
- Routine Emergency
- Stunted Growth
- Teriffic Headache
- Weak Muscle
Medical quotes that are oxymorons
- A hospital is no place to be sick - Samuel Goldwyn
- Age is mind over matter; if you don't mind it doesn't matter
- Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours - Yogi Berra
- Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist ought to have his head examined - Samuel Goldwyn
- He was dead but he got better
- I am sure I am growing smaller as I get older
- I distinctly remember forgetting that
- I have a terrible memory. I never forget a thing
- She used to diet on any kind of food she could lay her hands on
- The best cure for insomnia is to get a lot of sleep. - W.C. Fields
- We are not anticipating any emergencies
Palindrome: A word, verse, sentence or number (i.e. 1881) that is spelled the same backward or forward
- Aibohphobia: (noun) fear of palindromes (this word itself is a palindrome)
- Doc, Note: I Dissent. A Fast Never Prevents A Fatness. I Diet On Cod. (14 words, 52 letters)
- Eye
- Nurse, I spy gypsies. Run. Was it a bar or a bat I saw? Was it a bar or a bat I saw. Nurse I spy gypsies, run. (28 words, 76 letters)
MEDICAL SimILES
- Bleed like a Stuck Pig
- Blind as a Bat
- Cold as Ice
- Cough like a Seal
- Crazy as a Bed Bug
- Dizzy as a Coot
- Drinks like a Fish
- Feels like Swallowing Razor Blades
- Fine as frog’s hair split four ways
- Healthy as a Horse
- Headache like a Vise
- Hot as a Firecracker
- I looked like the North end of a Southbound pig
- Mad as a Hatter
- Nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rockin’ chairs
- Nutty as a Fruitcake
- Old as the Hills
- Shaking like a Leaf
- Sick as a Dog
- Skinny as a Rail
- Skinny as a Toothpick
- Smokes like a Chimney
- Spinning like a Top
- Strong as an Ox
- Tingling like Pins & Needles
- Weak as a Kitten
Carl Sandburg
"The fog comes on little cat feet"
6 January 1878
Galesburg, Illinois, USA
Died: 22 July 1967 (aged 89)
Flat Rock, North Carolina, USA
Occupation: journalist, author, poet
