Euphemisms The soft words English uses for hard things: death, illness, the toilet, the body, age, weight, pregnancy and birth — said politely, officially, as a joke and as slang. The course teaches Mova that what is said is not always what is meant.
The euphemisms course of Mova's primary school: 42 lessons, 969 sentences, each sentence with its syntax tree and pragmatics. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 (Mova corpus 0.4).
1 Soft words for hard things: death and dying 25 sentences · A euphemism is a soft or roundabout word we use instead of a plain word that feels too hard, rude or sad. 2 Soft words for hard things: death and dying 24 sentences · Not every euphemism for death is meant to be kind; some are meant to hide or to sound tough. 3 Soft words for hard things: death and dying, illness and the body 21 sentences · Euphemisms for death have many jobs: they comfort a family, honour soldiers, sell funerals and make dark jok… 4 Soft words for hard things: illness, disability and the body 24 sentences · People use euphemisms about the body and illness to be polite, to protect someone's feelings, or because a s… 5 Soft words for hard things: illness, disability and the body 23 sentences · Some illnesses used to be a secret or a shame, so people invented soft words to talk about them quietly: dri… 6 Soft words for hard things: the toilet and bodily functions 22 sentences · Almost every language has soft words for the toilet, because people feel shy about saying what they are goin… 7 Soft words for hard things: the toilet and bodily functions 22 sentences · Our bodies do messy things: they make gas, sweat, get stuck, run, throw up, and every month many women have… 8 Soft words for hard things: the toilet and bodily functions and age and looks 23 sentences · This lesson finishes the toilet words and starts the words for getting old. 9 Soft words for hard things: age and looks and weight 23 sentences · People are sensitive about how they look: wrinkles, baldness, being short or not pretty, or getting forgetfu… 10 Soft words for hard things: weight and pregnancy and birth 24 sentences · Talking about someone's weight can hurt, so people reach for softer words than "fat". 11 Soft words for hard things: pregnancy and birth 23 sentences · Grown-ups often talk about babies coming in soft, roundabout words instead of plain ones. 12 Soft words for hard things: pregnancy and birth and relations and family 21 sentences · Families use soft words for things people feel shy or sad about: a hurried wedding, where babies come from,… 13 Soft words for hard things: relations and family 20 sentences · Families are complicated, and people use soft words so they do not have to explain quarrels, divorces or who… 14 Soft words for hard things: relations and family and children's behaviour 21 sentences · Parents and carers use soft words about children's bad behaviour so they do not sound cross or shame the chi… 15 Soft words for hard things: children's behaviour and school reports and teachers 21 sentences · Parents and teachers often describe a child's problems in kind, positive-sounding words so the child and fam… 16 Soft words for hard things: school reports and teachers 22 sentences · Teachers write reports that parents read, so they choose kind, careful words instead of blunt ones. 17 Soft words for hard things: school reports and teachers and animals and pets 24 sentences · Schools soften bad news about trouble and failure, and families soften bad news about pets. 18 Soft words for hard things: animals and pets and money and poverty 24 sentences · People use soft words for things about animals they find unpleasant: toilets, killing and giving pets away. 19 Soft words for hard things: money and poverty 24 sentences · Being poor can feel embarrassing, so people often talk about it with soft, roundabout words. 20 Soft words for hard things: money and poverty and work, firing and the economy 24 sentences · Banks and companies use dry, technical words so that debt and job losses sound like ordinary paperwork. 21 Soft words for hard things: work, firing and the economy 22 sentences · Losing a job is painful and frightening, so bosses, newspapers and governments reach for soft words when the… 22 Soft words for hard things: work, firing and the economy and business and advertising 24 sentences · Job titles and adverts are full of soft words, because people want their work to sound grand and sellers wan… 23 Soft words for hard things: business and advertising and politics and government spin 22 sentences · Companies hide extra costs, broken products and bad results behind soft words; politicians hide taxes and un… 24 Soft words for hard things: politics and government spin 24 sentences · Governments must explain hard choices, such as cuts, wars and camps, to the people, and soft words make thos… 25 Soft words for hard things: politics and government spin and war, the military and violence 25 sentences · War and violence are the hardest things of all to talk about, so governments, armies and criminals give them… 26 Soft words for hard things: war, the military and violence 24 sentences · War means killing and destruction, and the people who start or run wars often do not want to say that plainly. 27 Soft words for hard things: crime, prison and the police 23 sentences · Prison, crime and police violence are hard things, so people find softer words for them. 28 Soft words for hard things: crime, prison and the police and lying and honesty 24 sentences · Stealing, killing and lying are things people are ashamed of, so they hide them behind softer words. 29 Soft words for hard things: lying and honesty and drinking and drugs 24 sentences · Calling someone a liar or a drunk is rude, so people reach for softer words. 30 Soft words for hard things: drinking and drugs 22 sentences · Drinking too much alcohol and taking drugs can harm people, and talking about it plainly can feel embarrassi… 31 Soft words for hard things: drinking and drugs and religion and fate 25 sentences · People often feel awkward talking about drinking too much alcohol or taking drugs, so they use soft or funny… 32 Soft words for hard things: religion and fate and failure and mistakes 22 sentences · Many everyday phrases soften the word God, such as "goodness knows" or "for heaven's sake"; they are polite… 33 Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes 23 sentences · Nobody likes to say "we failed" or "I made a mistake", so people reach for softer words: a company whose new… 34 Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes 23 sentences · Saying "no" or "you got it wrong" can hurt, so people dress failure up in softer clothes: a letter that says… 35 Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes and stupidity and madness 21 sentences · Others shift the blame: when a helpdesk says "user error", it means the machine is fine and the person using… 36 Soft words for hard things: stupidity and madness 22 sentences · Calling someone stupid or mad to their face is rude and hurts, so people wrap the idea in softer or funnier… 37 Soft words for hard things: stupidity and madness and rudeness and swearing 24 sentences · The listener has to finish the picture: if a part is missing, the person's mind is missing a part too. 38 Soft words for hard things: rudeness and swearing 22 sentences · When people stub a toe or drop a plate, a swear word wants to jump out. 39 Soft words for hard things: rudeness and swearing 26 sentences · Newspapers, teachers and polite grown-ups often have to report swearing without repeating it. 40 Soft words for hard things: rudeness and swearing 26 sentences · Grown-ups often say rude things in very polite clothes, and the polite words are a warning sign. 41 Olympiad: the euphemism detective ★★★ 22 sentences · In an olympiad puzzle about soft words you are a detective: first turn every soft phrase into plain words, t… 42 Olympiad: reading between the lines ★★★ 24 sentences · Olympiad texts pack many soft words into one passage: a house advert, a school report, a news story or a dea… ← previous Englishnext → Everyday↑ back to the school This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/