Euphemisms meant to conceal can come to name exactly what they hid

Evidence

Another, more oblique site to raise the question of linguistic success or failure may be found in the constancy of LTI, the way it is still part of “our cultural history,” as Blumenthal put it, as well as the ways in which it quickly turned into names those words that, spared their intended ambiguity or secrecy, no longer need translation. Nazism’s best known “euphemism,” may be the most significant example. The “final solution” is a phrase that has come to name quite precisely what it was meant to conceal. — Gil Anidjar, The Jew, the Arab, 678

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader project throughout this book on how theological-political terms carry hidden genealogies of enmity. — connects to: Genocidal preparation hides intent behind euphemisms and manufactures fear of victims — Gregory H. Stanton, Ten Stages of Genocide, 5