The term doublespeak applies to any deliberately evasive or deceptive language, including euphemisms. Doublespeak is especially common in politics and business. A military retreat is described as “tactical redeployment,” “downsizing” really means firing employees, and “take out” is a euphemism for “destroy.”
The government frequently uses doublespeak, as when a “Healthy Forests” program allows increased logging or when a “Clear Skies” program increases the allowable limits on air pollution.
When the manufacturer of a pacemaker writes that its product “may result in adverse health consequences in pacemaker-dependent patients as a result of sudden ‘no output’ failure,” it takes an alert reader to grasp the message: The pacemaker might suddenly stop functioning, leading to a heart attack or death.
Exercises:
Jargon, pretentious language, euphemisms, and doublespeak 1
Jargon, pretentious language, euphemisms, and doublespeak 2