press-euphemania

Some words designed to delude The shady art of the euphemism has been used to veil body parts and deceive investors By Diane Dietz The Register-Guard Published: Monday, Sep 26, 201 When the stock market takes a tumble, as it does on a regular basis these days, the experts on Wall Street call it a …

Euphemistically speaking / The impulse to find more refined ways to talking about unpleasant truths is a constant of the human experience; what changes over time are the topics deemed to need sugarcoating. By Ruth Walker / April 19, 2011 When two different colleagues suggest I should pay attention to a book, I tend to …

So to Speak | Joe Blundo commentary: Euphemisms waged, won ‘incursion’ on language Sunday, February 20, 2011 I was reading a book about euphemisms just as federal spending was being relabeled “investments” and new dietary guidelines turned hamburgers into “solid fats and added sugar.” The government can’t talk without euphemisms, but, then again, neither can …

Don’t say it: The art of dodging bad words February 13, 2011 What could be more fun than mocking yesterday’s euphemisms? Open a copy of Mencken’s “The American Language” and you find our American forebears exclaiming “nerts!” (to avoid the naughty “nuts!”) and calling their legs “limbs” or “benders.” Then there are the benighted Brits, …

Marie Claire has featurette about Euphemania