or psychological distance between the object and the speaker. The demonstratives “this” and “these” refer to an object that is close to the speaker. A business owner says, "I did not come up with those ideas", after his business proposal was rejected by investors. Deflecting, minimizing, omission of detail Avoiding straight-forward statements is common in deception, either to another person or in self-deception, in order to avoid details that might signify ownership or personal knowledge of the topic. This is accomplished through statements that deflect the topic or that minimize the importance and impact of the topic; alternatively, the speaker can keep statements vague or use hedge words. When a man is asked about his ex-girlfriend's infidelity, he shrugs and says, "I guess I should've seen it coming. We were fighting all the time at that point anyway, so we were probably going to break up sooner rather than later." Euphemisms Euphemisms are used as a means of minimizing negative emotions that the statement may elicit (either from the speaker or others), in order to make the speaker appear unaffected and the situation impersonal. Military personnel may use a range of distancing terms for combatants either killing or getting killed. They may also employ distancing, dehumanizing terms for enemy combatants. "Collateral damage" for the incidental or accidental killing of non-combatants during attacks on legitimate military targets is an example. See also Political correctness Polite fiction References Linguistics Psychology