This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
This discussion fits the trope perfectly, but I can't remember where on earth it's from.
A : Blackmail is such an ugly word. B : What would you call it then? A : (happily) Oh, it's still blackmail. I just don't like the word, that's all.
There's a variant in one of the Lord Darcy magical-detective stories by Randall Garrett. The setup is that Darcy's assistant, Master Sean O Lochlainn, has essentially been held hostage by the Marquis of London to make Darcy take a case. Master Sean, once he realises the situation, calls it blackmail. Darcy is slightly more generous:
- "Blackmail is perhaps too stong a word," said Lord Darcy thoughtfully, "but I will admit that no other is quite strong enough."
I seem to remember a slight subversion in the film Entrapment
- Baker: This is EntrapmentMac Dougal: No, actually it's called blackmail; entrapment is what cops do to thieves.
Your Obedient Serpent: A moment of self-indulgence, if you will, from a table-top RPG in which I played a diplomat who had to deal with a couple of foreign... observers:
- Lord Nikulai: "Spying" is such an ugly word. Perhaps we should say, "unilateral cultural exchange".
dancecommander - if you think about it, "blackmail" really IS ugly-sounding. It's got "bla" and "ck" which sound bad on their own, but terrible together, and "mail" has a bad mouth-feel. Extortion works so much better, especially in a British accent.
