Terror management theorists have documented the impact of mortality salience on socioemotional outcomes but not communication behavior. The reported research explored the influence of mortality salience on language used to describe bodily processes. Consistent with findings that humans cope with death anxiety through psychological distancing from their vulnerable bodies, participants for whom mortality was made salient were more likely than control participants to describe bodily processes using euphemisms. Rate of euphemism use for eliminatory functions exceeded that for copulation overall, suggesting stronger creaturely associations with elimination. Our findings indicate that psychological distancing evoked by mortality salience is manifested in communication behavior.Humans are animals, and like other animals we eat, drink, excrete, procreate, and die. We also differ from other animals in important ways. Our opposable thumbs alone separate us from most creatures (Bunnell, 1938), allowing us to open a jar or turn a doorknob. We possess a broader emotional repertoire than other animal groups (Lewis, Haviland-Jones, & Barrett, 2008), affording us romantic love, meaningful holiday gatherings, and hurt as a result of insults. Further elevating humans are our large, complex brains and the resultant cognitive capacity that enables us to formulate language, build skyscrapers, and send instantaneous electronic messages around the globe. For all of our lofty strivings, however, we are continually subject Nancy L. McCallum is a graduate student in the Department of Communication Studies at The University of