Words That Hide the Truth — George Carlin on Language and Power

I don't like words that hide the truth I  don't like words that conceal reality I   don't like euphemisms or euphemistic language and  American English is loaded with euphemisms because   Americans have a lot of trouble dealing with  reality Americans have trouble facing the truth so   they invent a kind of a soft language to protect  themselves from it and it gets worse with every   generation for some reason it just keeps getting  worse I'll give you an example of that there's a   condition in combat most people know about it it's  when a fighting person's nervous system has been   stressed to its absolute Peak and maximum can't  take any more input the nervous system has either   snapped or is about to snap in the first world  war that condition was called shell shock simple   honest direct language two syllables shell shock  almost sounds like the guns themselves that was   70 years ago then a whole generation went by and  the second world war came along and we the very   same combat condition was called battle fatigue  four syllables now it takes a little longer to   say doesn't seem to hurt as much fatigue is a  nicer word than shock Shell Shock battle fatigue   then we had the war in Korea in 1950 Madison  Avenue was riding High by that time and the   very same combat condition was called operational  exhaustion hey we're up to eight syllables now and   the humanity has been squeezed completely  out of the phrase it's totally sterile now   operational exhaustion sounds like something  that might happen to your car then of course   came the war in Vietnam which has only been  over for about 16 or 17 years and thanks to   the lies and deceits surrounding that War I guess  it's no surprise that the very same condition was   called post-traumatic stress disorder still  eight syllables but we've added a hyphen buried under jargon post-traumatic stress disorder  I'll bet you if we'd have still been calling a   shell shock some of those Vietnam veterans might  have gotten the attention they needed at the time   can't touch it but but it didn't happen and one of the  reasons one of the reasons is because we   were using that soft language that language  that takes the life out of life and it is a   function of time it does keep getting worse  get another example sometime during my life   sometime during my life toilet paper became  bathroom tissue I wasn't notified of this   no one asked me if I agreed with it it just  happened toilet paper became bathroom tissue   Seekers became running shoes false teeth  became Dental appliances medicine became   medication information became directory  assistance the dump became the landfill   car crashes became automobile accidents partly  cloudy became partly sunny motels became motor   lodges house trailers became mobile homes used  cars became previously owned transportation   okay room service became guest room dining and  constipation became occasional irregularity when I was a little kid if I got sick they  wanted me to go to the hospital and see   the doctor now they want me to go to a health  maintenance organization or a Wellness Center   to consult a health care delivery professional or  people used to live in slums now the economically   disadvantaged occupies substandard housing  in the inner cities and their [Applause] and they're [ __ ] broke because a lot of them  were fired you know fired management wanted to   curtail redundancies in the Human Resources area  so many people are no longer viable members of   the workforce smug greedy well-fed people  have invented a language to conceal listens   it's as simple as that the CIA doesn't kill  anybody anymore they neutralize people or   they depopulate the area the government  doesn't lie and engages in disinformation   the Pentagon actually measures nuclear  radiation and something they call Sunshine units   Israeli murderers are called Commandos Arab  Commandos are called terrorists Contra killers   are called Freedom Fighters well if crime Fighters  fight crime and firefighters fight fire what do   Freedom Fighters fight they never mentioned that  part of it to us do they never mention that party and some of this stuff is just silly we know we  all know that like on the airlines they say they   want a pre-board well what the hell is pre-board  what does that mean to get on before you get on they say they're going to pre-board those  passengers in need of special assistance ripples language there's no shame attached to the  word [ __ ] that I can find in any dictionary   no shame attached to it in fact it's a word  used in Bible translations Jesus healed the   cripples doesn't take seven words to describe  that condition but we don't have any cripples   in this country anymore we have the physically  challenged is that a grotesque enough Evasion   for you how about differently abled I've heard  them call that differently abled you can't even   call these people handicapped anymore they'll say  we're not handicapped we're handy capable these   poor people have been bullshitted by the system  into believing that if you change the name of the   condition somehow you'll change the condition  well hey cousin doesn't happen doesn't happen we have no more deaf people in this country  hearing impaired no one's blind anymore partially   sighted or visually impaired we have no more  stupid people everybody has a learning disorder   or he's minimally exceptional  how would you like to be told   that about your child he's minimally  exceptional oh thank God for that psychologists actually have started calling ugly  people those with severe appearance deficits it's getting so bad that any day now I expect to   hear a rape victim referred to as an  unwilling sperm recipient [Applause] and we have no more old people in this country  no more old people we ship them all away and   we brought in these senior citizens isn't that a  typically American 20th century phrase bloodless   lifeless no pulse in one of them a senior citizen  but I've accepted that when I've come to terms   with it I know it's here to stay we'll never get  rid of it that's what they're going to be called   so I'll relax on that but the one I do resist  the one I keep resisting is when they look at   an old guy and they'll say look at him Dan he's  90 years young imagine the fear of Aging that   reveals to not even be able to use the word old  to describe someone to have to use an antonym   and fear of Aging is natural it's Universal isn't  it we all have that no one wants to get old no one   wants to die but we do so we [ __ ] ourselves  I started bullshitting myself when I got to my   40s as soon as I was in my 40s I'd look in the  mirror and I'd say well I I guess I'm getting   older older sounds a little better than  old doesn't it sounds like it might even   last a little longer [ __ ] I'm getting  old and it's okay because thanks to our   fear of death in this country I won't  have to die I'll pass away [Applause] or I'll expire like a magazine subscription  that happens in the hospital they'll call it   a terminal episode the insurance company will  refer to it as negative patient care outcome   and if it's the result of malpractice  they'll say it was a therapeutic misadventure   I'm telling you some of this  language makes me want to vomit   well maybe not vomit makes me want to engage in an  involuntary personal protein spill thank you all [Music] foreign