reviews-euphemania

Ralph Keyes begins his book, Euphemania: Our Love Affair with Euphemisms, with a rather dull example from another author’s book. This is unfortunate because Euphemania, a fascinating and current treatise on what Keyes calls “the age-old challenge of finding respectable euphemisms for dubious terms,” deserves a better introduction. Perhaps one of the best indications of …

Author’s ‘Love Affair With Euphemisms’ is a classic My dictionary defines “euphemism” as: “the substitution of a mild or indirect expression for one thought to be offensive or blunt.” We all employ euphemisms, some of us more than others. They can soften verbal blows. They can help us to circle around unpleasant topics. Ralph Keyes …

The Quirky History of Euphemisms I have been having a lot of fun reading Ralph Keyes’s latest book Euphemania: Our Love Affair with Euphemisms.  He’s a smart guy and he’s written a lot of smart books – this is his fifteenth book – and this is another one. Keyes opens his fascinating book with a …

Usage, abusage and cover ups Winston Churchill once said, “In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.” But the shrewd political leader took little care to avoid plain speaking in other circumstance. Once at a dinner party in Virginia before World War II, he called, breast …

Blimey! The rude truth behind those euphemisms We live in a world of euphemism. Are you ill, or just a little under the weather? Are you an oldie, or a pensioner, or a senior citizen? Are you unemployed, or between jobs, or (like a couple of friends of mine) currently freelancing as a consultant? Everywhere …

Sunday Guardian snippets: on euphemisms . . . Ralph Keyes’ book Unmentionables (originally published as Euphemania and now subtitled “From Family Jewels to Friendly Fire – What We Say Instead of What We Mean”) is an entertaining look at the history of euphemistic language, ranging from ribald Shakespearean lines (Iago to Desdemona’s distraught father: “Your …