Dysphemism

Dysphemism
noun
a derogatory or unpleasant term used intead of a pleasant or neutral one, such as ‘loony bin’ for ‘mental hospital’. The opposite of euphemism

‘” if outsiders they are ‘dirty’ lazy’ and ‘morally unreliable’..... if minorities, they are ‘parasites’, ‘vermin’ and pernicious bacilli......”

“they [dysphemisms] insert the ‘other’ into the universe of moral obligations in such a way that not only does exclusion become justified but necessary because not to exclude appears morally culpable. The rhetoric of the others inhumanity obliges the self to practice inhumanity.”
Miroslav Volf, Exclusion and Embrace
Dysphemisms are great for shutting conversations down. No one wants to stand up for people who are obviously already to be excluded. Do we use dysphemisms in church? Do we write people off with our language, before we even consider wo they are, or what they have to say?