> What the cognitive psychologist and linguist Steven Pinker has artfully termed ‘the euphemism treadmill’ is not a tic or a stunt. It is an inevitable and, mor

> What the cognitive psychologist and linguist Steven Pinker has artfully termed ‘the euphemism treadmill’ is not a tic or a stunt. It is an inevitable and, more to the point, healthy process [...] > The crucial thing is to be able to step back from our instinctive reactions to the way such words sound to us now [...] and to realize they’re steps on an escalator, moving slowly but inexorably Is this an ironic attempt to demonstrate notion of the euphemism treadmill, by renaming it to an escalator? Because escalators and treadmills are kinda the opposite of one another. With an escalator you do nothing, and get to where you want to be. With a treadmill, you expend lots of energy and get nowhere - and if you don't expend the energy, you get flung off the back.