MODERN American speech, while not always clear or correct or turned with much style, is supposed to be uncommonly frank. Witness the current explosion of four-letter words and the explicit discussion ...

“Where is the euphemism?” A college friend used to ask this question to point out the silliness of calling a toilet a bathroom. Euphemism in ordinary speech may be amusing, stilted, or polite, but in ...

If you’ve been around for a while, you’ve probably heard the phrases 'long in the tooth,' 'getting on in years' or even 'over the hill.' “Euphemism” is defined as “a mild or indirect word or ...

This week’s column deals with a three-part query sent in by a reader: Sir, the title of your column last week was Eve-teasing is a euphemism used only in India (Dec 8). Is it correct to use the ...

Thanks to marketing, we now express ourselves with euphemisms: words or expressions that are substituted in order to make a blunt or unpleasant truth seem less harsh. Putting a good spin on things, ...

Jan. 14-20 is Idiom Week, and today we thought we’d have a heart-to-heart about some strange phrases we use. Idioms, metaphors and similes are all types of figurative language. According to ...