euphemism treadmill
Featured
May 6, 2025
Coined by the cognitive psychologist and linguist Steven Pinker in the 1990s, euphemism treadmill describes the process where a word or phrase that is created to replace a pejorative term eventually picks up the same negative “baggage” as the original, requiring the creation of yet another new term. The core idea is that the connotation follows the concept, not the word.
Examples of this treadmill include:
Garbage Man => Sanitation Worker => Waste Management Professional
Shell Shock => Battle Fatigue => PTSD
Third World => Developing Nation => Global South
Vagrant => Bum => Homeless => Person Experiencing Homelessness
Examples of this treadmill include:
Garbage Man => Sanitation Worker => Waste Management Professional
Shell Shock => Battle Fatigue => PTSD
Third World => Developing Nation => Global South
Vagrant => Bum => Homeless => Person Experiencing Homelessness
Rate of Appearance in English Language Print
Google's Ngram project shows how often a pair of words has appeared in print every year since the 1800's.
Data from Google Books Ngram Viewer. Licensed under CC BY 3.0.
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