EUPHEMISMS

Today, I read a Grammarphobia article titled "Why Do We Use Euphemisms?" (see here) and rather proudly congratulated myself that I didn't resort to euphemisms. I was struck by one of the quotes in the article: "It is therefore the language of evasion, hypocrisy, prudery, and deceit." (from the Oxford Dictionary Of Euphemisms).

But, just yesterday, I quoted a remark a friend had said years ago which I found to be very funny, sarcastic, and caustic. I had also written about the incident years ago in a BLOG article (CLICK HERE to see NAME DROPPER). When I looked at the old BLOG article to e-mail to her, I said to Les, "I used a euphemism." Les said, "Funny thing there--you used the real word when you told it to Patty--but you used a euphemism in the BLOG article."

GUILTY!

I realize that I am sometimes old-fashioned (especially about language usage) and reserve some things for formality, but I realized I should have indeed used the word "shit" rather than "poop" in the BLOG article because that is what she actually said! Not only is it accurate, but it's also a whole lot funnier than the euphemism.

The all-time worst euphemism: Mr. Cheney's "enhanced interrogation" for torture.