Financial Commentary for the Average Joe I Love It When You Talk Retro July 14, 2009 Not long ago, I used the expression “sounds like a broken record” regarding a classmate of my 10 yr old. He had been repeating the same issue over and over in class, and that simile seemed accurate. But my …
Plime
Plime “[At] one time, Patagonian toothfish was freely available to anyone because no one wanted to eat it,” Keyes says, “until a very clever entrepreneurial sea importer renamed it Chilean sea bass.” Current events have also provided ample fodder for euphemisms — think “wardrobe malfunction,” “wide stance” or “hiking the Appalachian trail,” a phrase made …
Euphemism of the Week
A recent New Yorker article reported that an outside auditor assessing a school building project in Nepal was called “very healthy” by locals. This was their euphemism for “massively obese.” According to writer Peter Hessler, while walking from one school to another, the auditor “was overwhelmed by healthiness and had to sit down.”
Library Talk
King County Library System (Washington) I Love it When You Talk Retro by Ralph Keyes, July 14, 2009 I am having a hard time deciding what to call, I Love it When You Talk Retro– it’s American history, its etymology, its social studies, and it is a dictionary! You can start at the beginning and …
Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers
Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers First things first…what IS a euphemism? What…you didn’t think that I’d just assume everyone knows what that word means, did you? Pffft! No way. It’s one of those oddball words that’s fun to say, hard to spell, and used in conversation rather often but not directly. (Confused? You’ll see…) A ‘euphemism’ …
npr.org
Talk of the Nation Ralph Keyes, author of many books including the new Euphemania: Our Love Affair with Euphemisms, talks about the prevalence of euphemisms in our culture—particularly when talking politics. ‘Pushing Up Daisies’ And Our Passion For Euphemisms From “passed away” to “Chilean sea bass,” euphemisms are a way to avoid unpleasant terms or …