George Carlin - Euphemistic Language

Get the latest Flash Player to see this video.

* HD format might not be available

Play in: Low Quality | High Quality | HD Quality *

Local Comments (0)

Nothing Found!

Youtube Comments (285)

May 26, 2012
USA4July1776 Says:
Honestly, I think that the politically correct craze was at its fever-pitch in the 1990s and have subsized considerably since then as somewhat of an annoying fad with an authoritarian feel to it due to the inherent censorship of freedom of speech that it entails... I still remember a project in AP English in 1999 when we made a parody of it by re-writing a Politically Correct-version of Snow White. The title was "Snow Caucasian and the Seven Vertically-Challenged Persons."

May 25, 2012
dwarvenater Says:
where do they say "wildlife park"? I live somewhat close to the national zoo in DC and I've never even heard that term.

May 19, 2012
mastertonguetim69 Says:
so if she doesnt want to swallow, but spits, its called a ...... voluntary protein spill?

May 16, 2012
carbonelite3 Says:
America always covering shit but who still believe the European in America we need african knowledge like the black woman is God n orgin of words

May 15, 2012
ThirstyDad65 Says:
i think carlin's philosophical legacy lies more with the new right with people like jonathan bowden than anywhere else.

May 14, 2012
touber2011 Says:
...because men like this wouldn't run for president...he had a greater influence this way, his way...

May 14, 2012
touber2011 Says:
...and 6 more idiots decided to democratically voice their opinion or ignorance by clicking the dislike button...

May 9, 2012
hard2start427 Says:
PREACH IT, GC! why dont we ever get men like this as president?

May 8, 2012
rg2027x Says:
"Americans have trouble with dealing with reality and in order to shield themselves from it, they use soft language. And somehow it gets worse with every generation. **SHELL SHOCK** became "battle fatigue".. These poor suckers have been bullshitted by the system into believing that if you change the name of the condition, somehow you'll change the condition. Well it doesn't work that way" "politically correct" soft language, the "language' that takes the life out of life.

May 7, 2012
Lenocas2011 Says:
My kind of guy !!!

May 6, 2012
manuelnuman Says:
Well said.

Apr 25, 2012
3510211 Says:
I hate baby boomers

Apr 25, 2012
3510211 Says:
in canada, sneakers are called running shoes. i don't think they have ever been called sneakers. Not sure what is so bad about running though?

Apr 24, 2012
Chow985 Says:
this sounds like one of those old self help audio tapes ya listen to in ur car. we miss ya George.

Apr 23, 2012
mojorhythm Says:
I also take umbrage with your charge that the Left hold a virtual monopoly on the euphemism treadmill. Both sides are responsible for fucking up our language. It is a human thing.

Apr 23, 2012
mojorhythm Says:
No. Small businesses are institutions. "The rich" are a certain group of PERSONS. They are the persons who, in 2010, captured 93% of the income gain while the rest fought over scraps.

Apr 23, 2012
browncoat697 Says:
Thanks for the clarification. I was never sure on his economic stances, so I went with what a lot of misanthropic comedians (like Penn & Teller) are. If he read Noam Chomsky and Gore Vidal, he's more than likely a dyed in the wool liberal that finds the Democratic Party disgustingly center-right (as I do).

Apr 22, 2012
ObamaIsUnAmerican Says:
Typical twisted leftist, while pretending to clear up euphemisms, you're creating euphemisms that distort reality to fit your ideology. Example: "The rich" is a leftist euphemism to what are indeed mostly small businesses (75% of what you lefturds call "the rich" are actually Sole Proprietorships, which mix personal and business incomes for tax purposes, but which pay salaries, bills and suppliers with that money) which create about 70% of jobs in America. Leftists are the euphemism-creators...

Apr 22, 2012
mojorhythm Says:
"Cut taxes for the rich and raise taxes on the poor" became, "lower the rates and broaden the base." "The rich" became "the job-creators." "Gutting social programs that help the poor and sick" became "welfare reform." "Anti-union laws" became "Right to Work laws." And finally..... "Corporations" became "people."

Apr 22, 2012
mojorhythm Says:
He agreed (more or less) with liberals politically, he just couldn't stand their bourgeois, sterile, PC personalities.

Apr 22, 2012
mojorhythm Says:
"He may have fit a more libertarian economic belief" He considered libertarianism just another ideology. In his memoirs, he describes himself several times as an anarchist. Back in the 80s and 90s, he subscribed to The Nation and In These Times, and read Noam Chomsky, Gore Vidal, etc.

Apr 22, 2012
mojorhythm Says:
Touche!

Video Details

Amateur linguists will recognize the phenomenon Carlin describes as the "euphemism treadmill," in which new words are invented to avoid the negative connotations that the old ones have taken on. George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 -- June 22, 2008)... may he rest in peace. More