From what looks like the laugh-out-loud story of the month comes what may be the euphemism of the year:
A statement released by the National Transportation Safety Board said: "The crew stated they were in a heated discussion over airline policy and lost situational awareness."
Remember, next time you're totally out of it and have no idea where you are or what you are doing, you've merely "lost situational awareness". I can't wait to use that.
Update: I currently have before me a text to translate in which the word "Situationsbewusstsein" appears, multiple times, including once in the title... it's even in the right context (piloting aircraft). Which was another laugh-out-loud moment (yes, I'm easily amused). There I was longing for an excuse to use this term, and this comes along. It's almost enough to make you believe in divine intervention. The word, evidently a fairly common term in the industry, is explained to mean "die Fähigkeit, seine eigene Situation in Abhängigkeit des jeweiligen Umfeldes zutreffend beurteilen zu können" - "the ability to correctly assess one's own situation in relation to one's specific environment". Hmm, yes, that pretty much fits perfectly with the pilot story...
3 comments:
Indeed, it is a very common term in the aviation industry, an accepted, technical term (rather than a smart/tricky euphemism), and has much more of a meaning than just being "lost" or "disoriented".
Which really just makes the way it was used in that press release even funnier...
This could actually be considered an instance of what the guys on Language Log call nerdview, i.e. the failure of some specialists to adjust their language - and, indeed, their entire perspective - when addressing non-specialists (e.g. the general public). But I still think this was more of a deliberate euphemism. I don't think this particular spokesperson had any desire to describe this incident in plain language at all...
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