Deadly Euphemism: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"The basic position regarding the practical execution to the Jewish question has been established and agreed upon by all agencies involved."''|'''Reinhard Heydrich, Head of Reich Security Main Office and Reichsprotector of Bohemia and Moravia''', February 29 1942}}

 

 

In some cases, the words 'destroyed' or 'erased' may be used, not as a euphemism, but rather because the word 'killed' is insufficient. Usually refers to those who have suffered a [[Fate Worse Than Death]], or an individual who has been [[Unperson|killed and wiped from all records]].

* In ''[[Tron]]'', the death of a program is called "deresolution", and programs who are killed are said to have been "derezzed". However, this is almost certainly due to the nature of existence in the Digital World rather than censorship.

* Played with in ''[[The Fifty First State|The 51st State]]'': A small-time gangster asks his henchman to "take care" of someone. Later on, the gangster finds that person's dead body. "I told you to take care of him, not to ''take care'' of him!"

* [[Dirty Cop]] movies and TV shows will inevitably reference the arrestee "resisting arrest" as a euphemism for having beat them (or requesting that they be beat) senseless. Unfortunately also very much [[Truth in Television]].

* In ''[[Lord of the Rings|Return of the King]]'', the attack on Minas Tirith starts with Gothmog giving the order to 'release the prisoners'. Cue severed Gondorian heads flying over the city walls.

== Live Action TV ==

* There was a ''[[Sliders]]'' episode where they land on a world where people can get free money for a chance to be killed. They use euphemisms and the main characters aren't aware why they're getting the money.

** This is supported by "The Next Doctor". The Cybermen are explicitly incapable of understanding certain human concepts. When a Human ally of theirs claims she will do her best she has to explain it as "operating at peak efficiency". It's probable that the Cybermen have no real concept of death([[Fridge Logic|for whatever reason]]) and deletion is the closest analogue to it they can come up with.

** The Daleks refer to "extermination" in much the same way. In the first Dalek story, though, you can quite clearly hear a Dalek say "Kill her" in one of the episodes.

** In ''[[Final Fantasy IX]],'' sentient black mages who die are said to have "stopped moving." When Vivi asks about this, the black mage elder says he is "kind to use our words," but that he already knows what it means to live and to die. Vivi later admits, though, "Mr. 288 told me that I understand what it means to live and to die... But it's only because I thought stopping was different from dying..."

** ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'' has the "Purge," in which citizens who are supposedly contaminated by elements from Pulse are "deported" or "relocated" to there, being referred to as "brave Pulse pioneers." In actuality, the Purge is cover for the mass execution of any of these citizens who are unable to escape. As the character Lightning explains -- "Sanctum logic. They conjured up the Purge to eliminate a threat. I mean, why carry the danger all the way to Pulse? Why not just stamp it out here? Execution masquerading as exile. That's all the Purge ever was."

* [[Portal (Video Game)|GLaDOS]] uses the term "euthanized", in reference to both test subjects and also to inanimate objects.

** [[Companion Cube|Or so]] [[Paranoia Fuel|the player]] [[Epileptic Trees|assumes]].

* In [[World of Warcraft]], Algalon the Observer talks about "re-origination" as the consequence of a world's failure to measure up to the standards of his masters, the Titans. "Re-origination" refers to the complete destruction of all life in a world followed immediately by the remaking of life in the world according to the Titans' original blueprints.

* [[Starcraft|Protoss]] don't annihilate planets, they ''purify'' them.

** Also, if you find [[Unobtanium|cotton candy]] it might lead you to the [[Physical Hell|circus]] where [[The Legions of Hell|clowns]] will [[Kill'Em All|entertain]] all your dwarves!

* In the ''[[Crusader (Video Game)|Crusader]]'' games, the summary execution of a WEC official on the orders of a more senior official was termed 'Early Retirement'.

** In (if memory serves) Colombia, the term used is 'disappear', as in people getting disappeared.

*** Various places in South America, and it's not an official euphemism, but used by the public to refer to the sudden and clandestine nature of the kidnappings and executions.

** Memorialized in the [[Catch-22]] quote: "They're going to disappear him? They can't disappear him! That's impossible! It's not even good grammar!"

** Destructive nuclear potency is measured in ''sunshine units''.

[[Category:Language Tropes]]

[[Category:Deadly Euphemism]]