Euthanasia

A Written Euphemism

Have you ever considered the connotations of the term "euthanasia"? It's likely that if you're familiar with this term, the first definition that comes to mind when you hear this word is the willingful aid to end another's life.

But consider the term literally: When spoken, it distinctly sounds like "youth in Asia." Consider the fact that U.S. President George W. Bush is willingly committed to having American youth (young soldiers) in Asia (Iraq) where their future is most certainly uncertain, and how many of these young men have already "sacrificed" themselves for the cause of establishing "good government" in a foreign country. Could it be that "euthanasia" is a (rather obvious) euphemism for the willingful aid to end lives through sending young folks to dangerous territory? Now, I'm not saying that this will lead to their certain doom; Bush can't be certain whether or not they'll survive. Of course, David couldn't be sure whether Uriah would either.

I'm not saying this connotation rules out the first definition; euthanasia is an ambiguous term. When spoken, it's a giveaway for an injustice; when spelled, it's a written euphemism. Unless, of course, one spells it "youthinasia"; then it's simply a giveaway for an injustice misspelled, in accordance with the defiance of terminology act, initiated by the decider.

MSN: "Ok"

Is it really okay?
From the amount of time I've logged into MSN (which I won't specify now), I've come to several conclusions on different responses from contacts to the messages you send them. The one I'd like to focus on in particular today is the simple two letter word, "ok." We see it day-by-day, and everytime it pops up, it registers in our minds: that response is not okay.

So why not? It's a fairly versatile and ambiguous term, but if used in certain contexts, you "just know" that it's not right. If you're talking to anyone about any topic, whether you care about it or not, and the person provides the short response "ok" and leaves it at that, it perhaps leaves you to wonder: did that person care about anything I just said?

"Ok" does not signify interest, but a lack thereof, and therefore implies that the person doesn't care to hear further about anything on the given subject. "Ok" is like a shutdown, and the easiest possible one: they just have to type the shortest possible understandable word to signal to the recipient that they don't want to be continuously pestered by the redundant MSN message sound and the flashing -minimized- conversation box on the screen. Of course, "ok" can work if there's at least some indication of any further messaging, so don't immediately terminate your discussion on a given topic; but chances are that if you're spilling out your heart to a significant other and all you get is an "ok," it might be time to move on to better things - perhaps personal conversations?