When I was in Seattle, I thumbed through their local real estate magazines, and I noticed on several ads a euphemism I hadn’t seen in San Francisco Bay Area: the use of the word “better” instead of “older”. For instance, when promoting housing tracts specifically for retirees, instead of saying “For people 55 or older” they would say “For people 55 or better.” This appeared in several places from completely unrelated outfits.
I had to roll my eyes and, once again, thought of our patron saint, George Carlin. Euphemisms were a favorite topic of his, and in one bit, he brought up how, for instance, on news casts they would say (and I’m paraphrasing from memory here) “Look at him, Dan: he’s 90 years young. Imagine the fear of aging that implies! To have to use an antonym!”
I’ll end this weekend with the clip which I believe contains the aforementioned rant. This video is appropriate viewing for anyone 13 years of age………or better.
