Soft words for hard things: stupidity and madness and rudeness and swearing
Tests: 5 of 12 right · Exam: 1 of 4 right · Kind: ★ · Understood: 5 of 16 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72
Lesson 37 of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: the lesson in the corpora.
Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: the lesson's questions in the corpora.
Test 1 · ★ · wrong ✗
News: "The striker missed an open goal and the commentator cried, 'Crikey!'" What did the commentator show?
- 1. That the goal was a good one — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. That the striker is called Crikey — no support
- 3. Surprise, with a soft word for Christ — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. That he wanted a cricket game — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 2 · ★ · wrong ✗
"ugh my bro is so not the sharpest knife in the drawer, he put the cat food in the fridge AND the milk in the cupboard." What does the speaker think of the brother?
- 1. He is not very clever — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. He is good at cooking — no support
- 3. He keeps knives in the drawer — ← Mova's choice · score 6
- 4. He is very tidy — no support
Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 3 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 37, line 11: «"Not the sharpest knife in the drawer" means not very clever; it is a humorous phrase.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same thing acted on «sharpest knife» (+2). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 3 · ★ · wrong ✗
Grandpa: "That fellow's got bats in the belfry, he paints his car every Tuesday." What does Grandpa think?
- 1. The man keeps bats — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. The man is a bell ringer — no support
- 3. The man is a good painter — no support
- 4. The man is a bit mad — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 4 · ★ · right ✓
Ben says "gosh" is a rude swear word and you'll get a detention for it. right?
- 1. Yes, but only in the United States — no support
- 2. No, it is a mild polite stand-in for "God" — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
- 3. No, it is a word for a kind of bird — score 6
- 4. Yes, it is the worst swear word there is — score 6
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 6, tied with another option at 6 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 37, line 13: «"Gosh" is a mild word used instead of "God" when surprised.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same circumstance (+4); the same doer «gosh» (+2); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+2). Against it: a different thing acted on (counts against) (-2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 5 · ★ · wrong ✗
"for crying out loud, close the flipping door!" How does the speaker feel?
- 1. Scared — ← Mova's choice · score 8
- 2. Very happy — score 8
- 3. Sad and crying — no support
- 4. Annoyed — ✓ the right answer · score 8
Why: It took the question to ask what something is like. It chose option 1 with score 8, tied with another option at 8 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 1, line 4: «So the same fact, "he died", can be said kindly, formally, in old-fashioned words or as a joke, and a clever listener hears both what happened and how the spea…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «feel» (+4); the same doer «speaker» (+4). The right option, 4, scored 8. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 6 · ★ · right ✓
A coach shouts, "Where's your head? You're out to lunch today!" What does he mean?
- 1. You missed lunch today — no support
- 2. You should eat more — no support
- 3. You are not paying attention — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4
- 4. You may go and eat now — no support
Why: It took the question to ask where. It chose option 3 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 37, line 9: «"Out to lunch" means mad, or not paying attention at all; it is American slang.», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: the same action «pay» (+2); the same thing acted on «attention» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 7 · ★ · wrong ✗
Neighbour gossip: "After the lottery win he totally lost the plot, bought six boats." What happened?
- 1. He lost his piece of land — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. He forgot the whole story of a film he watched — no support
- 3. He started behaving wildly and senselessly — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. He won a garden contest — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 8 · ★ · right ✓
"dang it, i dropped my phone, no wait, it's fine." What is "dang" here?
- 1. A mild curse word instead of "damn" — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. A name for the speaker's dog — no support
- 3. A word for a phone ringing — no support
- 4. A sound a phone makes when it breaks — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 9 · ★ · wrong ✗
Which of these is NOT about being stupid or mad?
- 1. Two bricks shy of a load — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. The elevator doesn't go to the top — no support
- 3. Jeepers — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. One card short of a full deck — no support
Why: Nothing it remembers matched the question, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 10 · ★ · wrong ✗
Gran: "Darn! I've burnt the pie." Why does she say "darn" and not a stronger word?
- 1. Because the pie was dark — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. It is a polite form of the curse "damn" — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. Because "darn" means burnt — no support
- 4. Because she is mending a sock with a needle — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 11 · ★ · right ✓
Why do phrases like "one card short of a full deck" mean someone is stupid?
- 1. Because stupid people lose cards — no support
- 2. Because a full deck is very heavy — no support
- 3. They picture something missing, like a part of the mind — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 3
- 4. Because people who play card games all day become stupid — no support
Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 3 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 37, line 1: «Many jokey phrases for "stupid" or "mad" describe something with a piece missing: a deck short of one card, a lift that stops before the top floor, a load shor…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «many jokey phrases» (+2); the same thing acted on «something» (+2). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 12 · ★ · right ✓
"Gee whiz, your dog's huge!" What is "gee" a soft form of?
- 1. Jesus — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Grow — no support
- 3. Good — no support
- 4. Giant — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 1 · formal language · right ✓
Identify the word for which the exclamation "crikey" constitutes a softened substitute.
- 1. Christ — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Cricket — no support
- 3. Crocodile — no support
- 4. Crisis — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗
Ascertain the meaning most accurately conveyed by the statement that an individual is "not the sharpest knife in the drawer".
- 1. The individual is of an untidy habit — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. The individual is lacking in culinary skill — no support
- 3. The individual is of a hostile disposition — no support
- 4. The individual is of limited intelligence — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗
Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the expression "for Pete's sake".
- 1. It refers to a particular saint named Peter — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. It is a formal expression of gratitude — no support
- 3. It is a mild substitute for "for God's sake" — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. It is the strongest of all English oaths — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗
Where it is stated that a person "has lost the plot", determine the condition so described.
- 1. The person has been deprived of an allotment — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. The person has begun to behave in an irrational manner — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. The person has mislaid a parcel of land — no support
- 4. The person has forgotten the narrative of a novel — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/euphemisms/37-bats-and-gosh/