A reform school was a penal institution , generally for teenagers , mainly operating between 1830 and 1900. In the United Kingdom and its colonies, reformatories (commonly called reform schools) were set up from 1854 onward for children who were convicted of a crime, as an alternative to an adult prison. In parallel, industrial schools were set up for vagrants and children needing protection. Both were 'certified' by the government from 1857 onward, and in 1932, the systems merged and both were 'approved' and became approved schools .
44-560: Both in the United Kingdom and the United States, they came out of social concerns about cities, poverty, immigration and vagrancy following industrialization , as well as from a shift in society's attitude from retribution (punishing the miscreant) to reforming . They were distinct from borstals (UK; 1902–1982), which were enclosed juvenile prisons. Social reformers in America during
88-492: A rhetorical strategy , in which case its goal is to change the valence of a description. Using a euphemism can in itself be controversial, as in the following examples: The use of euphemism online is known as " algospeak " when used to evade automated online moderation techniques used on Meta and TikTok's platforms. Algospeak has been used in debate about the Israeli–Palestinian conflict . Phonetic euphemism
132-474: A deterrent to future crimes, many juvenile offenders emerged from incarceration far worse than when they were first sentenced. The reforms, which were adopted more readily in some states than others, consisted of a two-pronged approach – a separate juvenile code and juvenile courts for offenders who had not reached the age of majority , and the building of separate institutions for juvenile "delinquents" (the stigmatizing term "criminal" not being used). Since
176-441: A euphemism for dead and an adjective meaning overdue, can cause confusion in listeners. Euphemisms are also used to mitigate, soften or downplay the gravity of large-scale injustices, war crimes, or other events that warrant a pattern of avoidance in official statements or documents. For instance, one reason for the comparative scarcity of written evidence documenting the exterminations at Auschwitz , relative to their sheer number,
220-574: A euphemism for defecation in Pre-Germanic, as the Proto-Indo-European root * sḱeyd- , from which it was derived, meant 'to cut off'. Another example in American English is the replacement of " colored people " with " Negro " (euphemism by foreign language), which itself came to be replaced by either "African American" or "Black". Also in the United States the term "ethnic minorities" in
264-709: A foreign language may be imported for use as euphemism. For example, the French word enceinte was sometimes used instead of the English word pregnant ; abattoir for slaughterhouse , although in French the word retains its explicit violent meaning 'a place for beating down', conveniently lost on non-French speakers. Entrepreneur for businessman , adds glamour; douche (French for 'shower') for vaginal irrigation device; bidet ('little pony') for vessel for anal washing. Ironically, although in English physical " handicaps " are almost always described with euphemism, in French
308-456: A polite way. Euphemism comes from the Greek word euphemia ( εὐφημία ) which refers to the use of 'words of good omen'; it is a compound of eû ( εὖ ), meaning 'good, well', and phḗmē ( φήμη ), meaning 'prophetic speech; rumour, talk'. Eupheme is a reference to the female Greek spirit of words of praise and positivity, etc. The term euphemism itself was used as a euphemism by
352-670: A story about a child involved in a street gang; and in 1846, it was recognised in the Juvenile Offences Act of 1846 that children under 14 should be tried in a special court, not an adult court. Begging and vagrancy were rife, and it was these low-level misdemeanours that caused the magistrates to send children to industrial schools to learn to be industrious, and learn skills that would make then more employable. More serious crimes required an element of punishment in an environment away from older prisoners, followed by education to reform their ways. The power to set up such an establishment
396-527: Is "directives for the extermination process obscured in bureaucratic euphemisms". Another example of this is during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine , where Russian President Vladimir Putin , in his speech starting the invasion, called the invasion a " special military operation ". Euphemisms are sometimes used to lessen the opposition to a political move. For example, according to linguist Ghil'ad Zuckermann , Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used
440-622: Is known as the Industrial Revolution and took place from the mid-18th to early 19th century. It began in Great Britain, spreading to Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, and France and eventually to other areas in Europe and North America. Characteristics of this early industrialisation were technological progress, a shift from rural work to industrial labour, and financial investments in new industrial structures. Later commentators have called this
484-414: Is less able than the tertiary sector to accommodate both increased productivity and employment opportunities; more than 40% of the world's employees are " working poor ", whose incomes fail to keep themselves and their families above the $ 2-a-day poverty line . There is also a phenomenon of deindustrialisation , as in the former USSR countries' transition to market economies, and the agriculture sector
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#1732854852297528-617: Is often the key sector in absorbing the resultant unemployment. Euphemism treadmill A euphemism ( / ˈ juː f ə m ɪ z əm / YOO -fə-miz-əm ) is an innocuous word or expression used in place of one that is deemed offensive or suggests something unpleasant. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the user wishes to downplay. Euphemisms may be used to mask profanity or refer to topics some consider taboo such as mental or physical disability, sexual intercourse, bodily excretions, pain, violence, illness, or death in
572-587: Is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society . This involves an extensive reorganisation of an economy for the purpose of manufacturing . Industrialisation is associated with increase of polluting industries heavily dependent on fossil fuels . With the increasing focus on sustainable development and green industrial policy practices, industrialisation increasingly includes technological leapfrogging , with direct investment in more advanced, cleaner technologies. The reorganisation of
616-478: Is used to replace profanities and blasphemies, diminishing their intensity. To alter the pronunciation or spelling of a taboo word (such as profanity ) to form a euphemism is known as taboo deformation , or a minced oath . Such modifications include: Euphemisms formed from understatements include asleep for dead and drinking for consuming alcohol. " Tired and emotional " is a notorious British euphemism for "drunk", one of many recurring jokes popularized by
660-701: The ancient Greeks ; with the meaning "to keep a holy silence" (speaking well by not speaking at all). Reasons for using euphemisms vary by context and intent. Commonly, euphemisms are used to avoid directly addressing subjects that might be deemed negative or embarrassing, such as death , sex , and excretory bodily functions. They may be created for innocent, well-intentioned purposes or nefariously and cynically, intentionally to deceive, confuse or deny . Euphemisms which emerge as dominant social euphemisms are often created to serve progressive causes. The Oxford University Press 's Dictionary of Euphemisms identifies "late" as an occasionally ambiguous term, whose nature as
704-1058: The economic communities do not consider contemporary industrialisation policies as being adequate to the global south (Third World countries) or beneficial in the longer term, with the perception that they may only create inefficient local industries unable to compete in the free-trade dominated political order which industrialisation has fostered. Environmentalism and Green politics may represent more visceral reactions to industrial growth. Nevertheless, repeated examples in history of apparently successful industrialisation (Britain, Soviet Union, South Korea, China, etc.) may make conventional industrialisation seem like an attractive or even natural path forward, especially as populations grow, consumerist expectations rise and agricultural opportunities diminish. The relationships among economic growth, employment, and poverty reduction are complex, and higher productivity can sometimes lead to static or even lower employment (see jobless recovery ). There are differences across sectors , whereby manufacturing
748-492: The " euphemism treadmill ", as coined by Steven Pinker . For instance, the place of human defecation is a needy candidate for a euphemism in all eras. Toilet is an 18th-century euphemism, replacing the older euphemism house-of-office , which in turn replaced the even older euphemisms privy-house and bog-house . In the 20th century, where the old euphemisms lavatory (a place where one washes) and toilet (a place where one dresses ) had grown from widespread usage (e.g., in
792-598: The 2010s has been replaced by " people of color ". Venereal disease , which associated shameful bacterial infection with a seemingly worthy ailment emanating from Venus , the goddess of love, soon lost its deflective force in the post-classical education era, as "VD", which was replaced by the three-letter initialism "STD" (sexually transmitted disease); later, "STD" was replaced by "STI" (sexually transmitted infection). Intellectually-disabled people were originally defined with words such as "morons" or "imbeciles", which then became commonly used insults. The medical diagnosis
836-453: The English word handicap is used as a euphemism for their problematic words infirmité or invalidité . Periphrasis , or circumlocution , is one of the most common: to "speak around" a given word, implying it without saying it. Over time, circumlocutions become recognized as established euphemisms for particular words or ideas. Bureaucracies frequently spawn euphemisms intentionally, as doublespeak expressions. For example, in
880-528: The First Industrial Revolution. The " Second Industrial Revolution " labels the later changes that came about in the mid-19th century after the refinement of the steam engine , the invention of the internal combustion engine , the harnessing of electricity and the construction of canals, railways, and electric-power lines. The invention of the assembly line gave this phase a boost. Coal mines, steelworks, and textile factories replaced homes as
924-508: The United States) to being synonymous with the crude act they sought to deflect, they were sometimes replaced with bathroom (a place where one bathes), washroom (a place where one washes), or restroom (a place where one rests) or even by the extreme form powder room (a place where one applies facial cosmetics). The form water closet , often shortened to W.C. , is a less deflective form. The word shit appears to have originally been
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#1732854852297968-461: The concept of Social class , i.e., hierarchical social status defined by an individual's economic power. It has changed the family system as most people moved into cities, with extended family living apart becoming more common. The movement into more dense urban areas from less dense agricultural areas has consequently increased the transmission of diseases. The place of women in society has shifted from primary caregivers to breadwinners, thus reducing
1012-595: The early 19th century; whereas in a rural economy young children could gain paid employment doing tasks such as bird scaring and stone gathering, these opportunities were not available in the cities. Children were very visible on the streets. In 1816, Parliament set up a ‘Committee for Investigating the Alarming Increase in Juvenile Crime in the Metropolis’; in 1837, the writer Charles Dickens published Oliver Twist ,
1056-470: The economy has many unintended consequences both economically and socially. As industrial workers' incomes rise, markets for consumer goods and services of all kinds tend to expand and provide a further stimulus to industrial investment and economic growth . Moreover, family structures tend to shift as extended families tend to no longer live together in one household, location or place. The first transformation from an agricultural to an industrial economy
1100-446: The late 19th and early 20th centuries almost invariably found fault with the then-usual practice of treating juvenile offenders essentially the same as adult criminals . It was recognized that the juveniles were often sexually and/or otherwise exploited by the older inmates, and that they were often receiving instruction in more advanced and serious ways of crime by hardened criminals. As a result, rather than their sentences serving as
1144-525: The law were sent to a reformatory. In practice however, older children tended to be sent to reformatories and younger ones to industrial schools, with little regard as to why they had been committed. The over-crowding and insanitary conditions of these schools, combined with poor diets and overwork, caused terrible health problems. Contagious disease was a big problem, particularly measles and eye diseases. The reform school system came to an end on 1887, due to public pressure, and government shifted its focus towards
1188-716: The most important criticisms of industrialisation is that it caused children to stay away from home for many hours and to use them as cheap workers in factories. Between the early 1960s and 1990s, the Four Asian Tigers underwent rapid industrialisation and maintained exceptionally high growth rates. As of 2018 the international development community ( World Bank , Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) , many United Nations departments, FAO WHO ILO and UNESCO , endorses development policies like water purification or primary education and co-operation amongst third world communities . Some members of
1232-508: The neutral Hebrew lexical item פעימות peimót (literally 'beatings (of the heart)'), rather than נסיגה nesigá ('withdrawal'), to refer to the stages in the Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank (see Wye River Memorandum ) , in order to lessen the opposition of right-wing Israelis to such a move. Peimót was thus used as a euphemism for 'withdrawal'. Euphemism may be used as
1276-546: The number of children per household. Furthermore, industrialisation contributed to increased cases of child labour and thereafter education systems. As the Industrial Revolution was a shift from the agrarian society, people migrated from villages in search of jobs to places where factories were established. This shifting of rural people led to urbanisation and an increase in the population of towns. The concentration of labour in factories has increased urbanisation and
1320-640: The past, the US military used the term " sunshine units " for contamination by radioactive isotopes . The United States Central Intelligence Agency refers to systematic torture as " enhanced interrogation techniques ". An effective death sentence in the Soviet Union during the Great Purge often used the clause "imprisonment without right to correspondence ": the person sentenced would be shot soon after conviction. As early as 1939, Nazi official Reinhard Heydrich used
1364-455: The place of work. By the end of the 20th century, East Asia had become one of the most recently industrialised regions of the world. There is considerable literature on the factors facilitating industrial modernisation and enterprise development. The Industrial Revolution was accompanied by significant changes in the social structure, the main change being a transition from farm work to factory-related activities. This has resulted in
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1408-418: The population of such institutions to the maximum extent possible, and to leave all but the most incorrigible youths in a home setting. Also, in an attempt to make the situation more socially normal, and in response to the rising number of young female offenders, many such institutions have been made coeducational. The current approach involves minimizing the use of custodial institutions and the maximization of
1452-422: The primary purpose of these institutions was to be rehabilitative rather than punitive , they were styled "reform schools". For the most part, these institutions were custodial. In the United Kingdom, reformatory schools were provided for criminal children, whilst industrial schools were intended to prevent vulnerable children from becoming criminals. There was a perceived rise in juvenile delinquency during
1496-404: The same purpose: to call a person a berk sounds less offensive than to call a person a cunt , though berk is short for Berkeley Hunt , which rhymes with cunt . The use of a term with a softer connotation, though it shares the same meaning. For instance, screwed up is a euphemism for 'fucked up'; hook-up and laid are euphemisms for ' sexual intercourse '. Expressions or words from
1540-421: The satirical magazine Private Eye ; it has been used by MPs to avoid unparliamentary language . Pleasant, positive, worthy, neutral, or nondescript terms are often substituted for explicit or unpleasant ones, with many substituted terms deliberately coined by sociopolitical movements, marketing , public relations , or advertising initiatives, including: Some examples of Cockney rhyming slang may serve
1584-579: The size of settlements, to serve and house the factory workers. Family structure changes with industrialisation. Sociologist Talcott Parsons noted that in pre-industrial societies there is an extended family structure spanning many generations who probably remained in the same location for generations. In industrialised societies the nuclear family , consisting of only parents and their growing children, predominates. Families and children reaching adulthood are more mobile and tend to relocate to where jobs exist. Extended family bonds become more tenuous. One of
1628-965: The state terms it, than for other youths the same age. In the United States , the most well-known facilities meeting the general criteria for being colloquially labelled "reform schools" include the Lincoln Hills School near Merrill, Wisconsin and the Preston School of Industry in Ione, California . The first state-funded funded reform school in the United States was the State Reform School for Boys in Westborough, Massachusetts . It opened in 1848. In Denmark , continuation high schools continue to be used as reform schools as they are much cheaper than government regulated youth detention centers , while
1672-546: The success rates are much the same in Denmark. Today, there are no national guidelines regarding the severity of the crimes with which the children are charged; nor are there any guidelines in place to assist in the decision to send them to reform school in the first place, since each town or jurisdiction has its own bylaws and budgets. Children charged with making bomb threats end up in such places. Industrialisation Industrialisation ( UK ) or industrialization ( US )
1716-558: The term Sonderbehandlung ("special treatment") to mean summary execution of persons viewed as "disciplinary problems" by the Nazis even before commencing the systematic extermination of the Jews . Heinrich Himmler , aware that the word had come to be known to mean murder, replaced that euphemism with one in which Jews would be "guided" (to their deaths) through the slave-labor and extermination camps after having been "evacuated" to their doom. Such
1760-671: The use of foster homes. In the 1950s and 1960s, many of the same problems that had occurred with the former system of incarcerating juveniles along with adults began to be noticed in reform school — older juveniles exploiting the younger ones, sexually and otherwise, and the younger ones taking the more hardened, usually older offenders as role models and mentors. Also, the term "reform school" itself, originally intended as destigmatizing , had developed its own stigma. Today, no state openly or officially refers to its juvenile correctional institutions as "reform schools", although such institutions still exist. The attempt has also been made to reduce
1804-440: The use of less-restrictive settings which allow the youths to remain in their own homes, usually while attending during the daytime an alternative school , a term which may be viewed with pejorative bias, although these as defined are considered broad and diverse in scope. There may be court-monitored probation or other restrictions, such as a strict curfew applied to the clientele of the "Department of Youth Services" or whatever
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1848-416: Was changed to "mentally retarded", which morphed into the pejorative, " retard ", against those with intellectual disabilities. To avoid the negative connotations of their diagnoses, students who need accommodations because of such conditions are often labeled as "special needs" instead, although the words "special" or "sped" (short for "special education") have long been schoolyard insults. As of August 2013,
1892-662: Was given in the 1854 Youthful Offenders Act (the Reformatory Schools Act) . This provided financial assistance and support for reformatory schools as an alternative to prison. Industrial schools were regularised three years later by the 1857 Industrial schools act . In Australia, reform schools were established by the Neglected and Criminal Children Act 1864 , which provided for children who came under state guardianship. In theory, children who were considered 'neglected' were sent to an industrial school, while those who had broken
1936-568: Was part of the formulation of Endlösung der Judenfrage (the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question"), which became known to the outside world during the Nuremberg Trials . Frequently, over time, euphemisms themselves become taboo words, through the linguistic process of semantic change known as pejoration , which University of Oregon linguist Sharon Henderson Taylor dubbed the " euphemism cycle " in 1974, also frequently referred to as
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