Minor Genre: Folk Speech (Tabooistic Vocabulary) 

Text: I gotta go call the president 

Context: My informant said he politely says this to leave the room when he needs to defecate. When asked about it, he said that defecating is his “business,” so it makes sense if he refers to it as calling the president. My informant first heard this tabooistic vocabulary from his aunt when he was around twelve years old. It stuck with him because it was funny, clever, and aligned with his humor. Although he is not calling the president, he feels empowered as not everyone knows what he means, but he can still laugh about it. My informant mentioned that this is an indirect way to let those around him realize he needs to leave the room for personal reasons. In his words, “it lessens the tension of needing to poop.” He uses this phrase anytime he is around people and needs to use the restroom. When I asked him about it, he said he would never stop saying he needs to call the president unless he finds something funnier to replace it. 

Analysis: Generally, tabooistic vocabulary will tell someone much about a culture. In this case, hiding/ or avoiding the biological language for needing to defecate is very typical of Western societies where bodily emissions are considered dirty, disgusting, and a private matter— taboo. Because my informant grew up in the United States, he learned that it is inappropriate to exit a room by saying he needs to defecate, so instead, he disguises it as something completely unrelated to using the restroom. Because he fears not being socially accepted, he replaces the tabooistic vocabulary with a euphemism to make it socially acceptable.