The euphemism treadmill: once everyone is aware of the meaning of a word for a negative thing, you need to move to another one.

· Bits and Bobs 9/2/25
  • The euphemism treadmill: once everyone is aware of the meaning of a word for a negative thing, you need to move to another one.
    • Euphemisms rely on load-bearing ambiguity to hide an inconvenient truth.
    • RIF (Reduction in Force) is a euphemism for layoff.
    • Once it's widely known we'll move to a new one.