A Euphemism For George Carlin

The late, great George Carlin once did a routine about euphemisms (see it here) in which he railed against soft language that hides reality. He gave several examples: “shell shock” became “post traumatic stress disorder,” “the dump” became “the landfill,” “information” became “directory assistance,” and my favorite: “Thanks to our fear of death in this country, I won’t have to die; I’ll pass away.”

I recently came across one that I think Carlin would have loved. You know when a television episode airs for the second time and every time thereafter? When I was a kid, it was called a repeat.

Now, it’s called an encore presentation.

Here’s what’s wrong with that. First, as per Carlin, it’s more syllables: two for repeat, six for encore presentation.

Second is the word encore. It means “a demand for repetition or reappearance made by an audience” and “a reappearance or additional performance in response to such a demand.”

Traditionally, that’s when the audience screams with delight at a concert or something similar, and the musician (or performer) comes out and does something extra.

I was in the gym exercising, and the TV overhead (that I could not control) showed an encore presentation of “The View.” I don’t think anybody was asking for this episode of “The View,” especially considering it wasn’t even one with Whoopi Goldberg in it.

As Carlin would say, “Bullshit. It’s a repeat, and it’s OK.”

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