Flying Saucers to UAPs: The Euphemism Treadmill

Econtalk hosted Adam Kirsch last week to talk about UFOs. Well, they're technically called "UAPs" now, a change that prompted Kirsch to explain "euphemism treadmills." UAPs, he explained, used to be "flying saucers," then became "Unidentified Flying Objects," then "Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon," and now "Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon." He said it's because there's a problem with the subject:

[I]t's what people sometimes call a euphemism treadmill, where the name keeps changing, but because there's a problem with the thing that's being named.

Someone may want to remind him that blacks used to be called [can't say it; it carries magical properties, literally "taboo," merely to utter it out loud brings Beetlejuice into your living room], and then "negroes," then "colored," then "blacks," and then "African-Americans." I suspect Woke 2 will understandably disagree that such a semantic history is evidence of "a problem with the thing that's being named."

Poor Adam Kirsch: He might have just signed his own Cancellation Warrant, as the Woke 2 movement picks up steam again.

It'd be unfortunate. Kirsch strikes me as one of the most intellectually-honest writers today. That probably makes him a "conservative," but that's only because many liberals have gone so bat-s*** crazy, they can't be intellectually honest anymore than a paraplegic can crush the 40-yard dash. I seriously doubt Kirsch is "conservative" in any traditional sense.

Are We Alone? Cosmic Loneliness and the Longing to Believe (with Adam Kirsch) - Econlib

Has the earth been visited by extraterrestrials? Are we alone? Despite no formal evidence for conscious life outside of earth, the belief that we are not alone has become more common among both scientists and everyday people. Listen as author Adam Kirsch talks to EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the urge to believe that there […]

EconlibAdam Kirsch