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Call it the “dysphemism treadmill”. In its opposite, the “euphemism treadmill” (a term coined by Steven Pinker, a professor at Harvard), people run from one polite banality to another.
这种写作风格可以称为“粗直语轮转”。与之相对的是“委婉语轮转”(这是哈佛大学教授史蒂文·平克创造的一个术语)，表示人们把一个礼貌且平庸的词语换成另一个礼貌且平庸的词语。
They referred to people as “idiotic” until that became pejorative; then they opted for “retarded”, which became unsayable; and then they devised “special”, which is now a taunt too.
人们最开始用“白痴”这个词来形容人，然后这个词变成了贬义词，他们又选择了“弱智”这个词，这个词也变得不太好说出口，然后他们又用了“特别”这个词，现在这个词也成了一种嘲讽。
The dysphemism treadmill works the other way round: “prejudiced” seems too mild so is replaced with “racist”, which then suffers the same fate and must be swapped out for “white supremacist”.
粗直语轮转与之相反：“有偏见的”似乎太过温和，因此被“种族主义”取代，然后“种族主义”又遭遇了同样的命运，被换成了“白人至上主义”。
As is true of many modern trends, the most extreme words have radiated from America, where “communist” and “fascist” have nothing to do with sickles or swastikas and are sometimes applied to anyone you disagree with.
正如许多现代潮流一样，最极端的词汇都来自美国，在美国，“共产主义”和“法西斯主义”与镰刀和万字符没有任何关系，有时当你不同意某人的意见时，就可以用这两个词来形容他们。
Social media, the “great awokening” on the left and the MAGAfication of the right have contributed to a verbal crescendo. Countries in west and central Africa have seen seven of the classic storming-the-presidential-palace sort of “coup” in less than four years.
社交媒体、左翼的“伟大觉醒”和右翼的“让美国再次伟大”都促成了一场语言高潮。在不到四年的时间里，西非和中非国家经历了七次典型的“政变”，但实际上就是群众冲进了总统府。
Yet the same word has been used recently to describe an iffy deal to stay in power, struck by Spain’s Pedro Sanchez with Catalan separatists, in exchange for a few votes in a freely elected parliament. Spain is not so much witnessing a coup as a political zoo.
然而，最近“政变”也被用来描述西班牙首相佩德罗·桑切斯与加泰罗尼亚分裂派达成了一项可疑协议，为的是在自由选举的议会中换来几张选票，让桑切斯继续掌权。与其说西班牙正在经历一场政变，不如说西班牙正在观看政治动物园表演。
The worst crime imaginable—“genocide”—is also being bandied about more often.
可以想象到的最严重的罪行“种族灭绝”也在越来越多地流传开来。
The word is used correctly when describing the Arab militias in Sudan who are rounding up black African tribes, such as the Masalit, murdering men and boys, raping women and saying “the baby will be an Arab”.
在描述阿拉伯民兵在苏丹围捕马萨利特等非洲黑人部落，杀害成年和未成年黑人男性、强奸女性，并说“生下来的孩子是阿拉伯人”时用“种族灭绝”这个词是正确的。
But those using the term “genocide” to characterise Israeli attacks on civilians in Gaza are not hewing strictly to what the word’s definition is, which is the intentional destruction of people for the mere fact of their ethnicity.
但是一些人用“种族灭绝”来描述以色列对加沙平民的袭击，这些人就没有严格遵守这个词的定义，即仅仅因为人们的种族而故意毁灭他们。
So here is a suggestion for writers. You cannot outshout the crowds. So distinguish yourselves by choosing accurate, vivid words between the evasions of euphemism and the temptations of exaggeration.
这里有一个给写作者的建议。你无法比一群人喊叫得更响亮。因此，在委婉语的回避和夸大其辞的诱惑之间，要选择准确、生动的词语让自己的语言更有辨识度。
Crimes against language, in the long run, make it harder to describe crimes against humanity.
从长远来看，语言的罪行会让人们更难以描述人类的罪行。
