George Carlin on how we lie to ourselves with euphemisms

Today is the 78th anniversary of the birth of the great truth-teller George Carlin. George left us much too early, in 2008, but the miraculous thing is he's still with us through the wonders of modern technology. We have countless wonderful Carlin routines available to us through YouTube and they never get stale.

 One of those routines is Carlin's take on how our language has changed in order to soften reality for us. We have become a euphemism-spouting society that chooses to see everything in soft focus and refuses to face up to the harsh edges of life.

 George Carlin was never one to shrink from the truth. Here's a reminder of why we needed his clear-eyed vision of the world and why we still miss him.

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