On Some Political Euphemisms in the Post-Truth Era (a Case Study of the English Language)

Abstract

Th paper focuses on the euphemisms “terminological inexactitude”, “to be economical with the truth” and “alternative facts” in English political discourse of the post-truth era. Ths period is characterised by certain linguistic means, and euphemisation plays an important role here. It is shown that in the post-truth era, where borders between truth and lies are blurred, these euphemisms synonymous with the nouns “lie” are of particular relevance in political communication. Th euphemism “terminological inexactitude” still serves as a metaphor of lying originally determined by speech etiquette and historical traditions, which is the case, for example, during the debates in the British parliament, where there is an offial list of taboo words and expressions referred to as unparliamentary language. However, the other two euphemisms partly change their functionality. In the post-truth world, the expressions “economical with the truth” and “alternative facts” are used by the speaker to deliberately distort reality and conceal the truth rather than to follow the rules of politically correct speech.