reviews-euphemania

How to phrase this in a family newspaper? This book is about saying what we mean without being lewd or crude while still being shrewd. Prolific American author Ralph Keyes has a love of language — his 15 books include the provocatively titled I Love It When You Talk Retro — and he certainly has …

Speaking euphemistically Ever ponder how much we rely on euphemisms? I didn’t, until I dipped into “Euphemania” (Little, Brown; $24.99), a new book sure to delight language lovers. The book, by Ralph Keyes, explores how we use euphemisms as stand-ins for words that evoke fear, unease or embarrassment. And, best of all, it offers hundreds …

Spend a weekend reading Ralph Keyes’s fascinating new book, “Euphemania: Our Love Affair with Euphemisms,” and you’ll become convinced that language is a complicated network of discreet evasions that stretches back to the beginning of civilization. Some euphemisms are so old we don’t even recognize them as another era’s attempt to avoid dangerous words. One …

Ohio author Ralph Keyes’ ‘Euphemania’ is a fun history of how and why we mince our words So why in the world would wildlife officials actually kill any of the detestable, projectile-vomiting, double-crested cormorants violating the Lake Erie islands when they could “effectively manage the flock” to get the same result? And who among us …

The softest slurs: Humans have always needed to avoid saying what they’re saying As long as we have had language we have had the need not to say what we have to say. No culture and no period in history have been exempt from euphemisms, least of all our own. Don’t even try to avoid …