Question

On April 17, 1973, Ron Ziegler, President Nixon's press secretary, was caught in a lie during a press conference. In his attempt to extract himself from an embarrassing situation, Ziegler said the most recent statement was the "operative statement"; the previous one was now "inoperative." This is a classic example of

a) euphemism
b) colloquialism
c) cliche
d) doublespeak

Answer 1

a: euphenism

Step-by-step explanation:

Press secretaries must have a very good knowledge of how to use the appropriate words. In this occasion, in order to find a way to avoid embarassment resulting from a lie, he tries to minimize what he had declared before, so he employs an euphenism, by using and comparing the expressions "operatrive statement" and "inoperative" instead of acknowledging: "I was wrong when said that."