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Euphemisms Quotes

Browse 10 quotes about Euphemisms.

Euphemisms Quotes

“If there is one place we should begin, it is with a resolve to not conceal sins, to not seal ourselves off from people's suffering by burying it under a mountain of vacuous bullshit. Euphemisms are an attempt to find pleasant words for an ugly reality, and in doing so, they allow their users to avoid feeling guilty or uncomfortable. This is why they are particularly common in the business world, where executives do not want to admit that they are ruining a lot of people's lives through mass firings and so discuss restructuring, outsourcing, redundancy, and streamlining. An independent contractor is a worker who has no benefits or guaranteed hours, and increasing efficiency often means making people do more work in less time.”

HumanityWorkSocialismBullshitSociologyEuphemisms
Book:Why You Should Be a Socialist
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“It is sensible of me to be aware that I will die one of these days. I will not pass away. Every day millions of people pass away—in obituaries, death notices, cards of consolation, e-mails to the corpse’s friends—but people don’t die. Sometimes they rest in peace, quit this world, go the way of all flesh, depart, give up the ghost, breathe a last breath, join their dear ones in heaven, meet their Maker, ascend to a better place, succumb surrounded by family, return to the Lord, go home, cross over, or leave this world. Whatever the fatuous phrase, death usually happens peacefully (asleep) or after a courageous struggle (cancer). Sometimes women lose their husbands. (Where the hell did I put him?) Some expressions are less common in print: push up the daisies, kick the bucket, croak, buy the farm, cash out. All euphemisms conceal how we gasp and choke turning blue.”

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Book:Essays After Eighty
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“Just think of some of the most common verbs used to illustrate sex: bone, drill, screw. In the world of these words, the person with the erection is both the star and the narrator. If one were to describe sex from the vagina’s standpoint – to say something like, “We enveloped all night,” or “I sheathed the living daylights out of him,” or “we clitsmashed” – it would be such an exceptional rebellion against mainstream sex talk that to many listeners, it would be a real head-scratcher.”

LanguageSexFeminismEuphemisms
Book:Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language
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“In many a case, the phrase ‘I’d like to get to know you better’ is a euphemism for ‘I want us to fuck.”

WritingRomanceLanguageRelationshipsTalkingRelationshipStyleCommunicationBedConversationSpeechCourtWordsTonguePursueDiscourseWoeVocabularyCantAcquaintanceKnowTalkSeeSpeakingCourtshipDialectJargonDateIdiomSlangEuphemismTerminologyFuckChaseMother TongueSexual IntercourseWordingCourtingExpressionsMake LoveEuphemismsWooChoice Of WordsLingoSleep WithPatoisNative TonguePhrasingAcquaintMake AcquaintanceParlancePhraseologyTurns Of PhraseUsagesArgotDysphemismDysphemismsForm Of ExpressionGo Out WithGo Steady WithIdiolectLocutionsMode Of ExpressionRun AfterSeek The HandSet One S Cap For
Author:Mokokoma Mokhonoana
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“As her brother turned to walk away, she asked with mild exasperation, “Where are you going? Leo, you can’t leave when there’s so much to be done.” He stopped and glanced back at her with a raised brow. “You’ve been pouring unsweetened tea down my throat for days. If you have no objection, I’d like to go out for a piss.” She narrowed her eyes. “I can think of at least a dozen polite euphemisms you could have used.” Leo continued on his way. “I don’t use euphemisms.” “Or politeness,” she said, making him chuckle.”

PolitenessSiblingsAmeliaHahaLeoHathawaysEuphemismsPiss
Book:Mine Till Midnight
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“Perhaps the most conspicuous one [pattern] he [Jonathon Green] found was how consistent, and how unsettling, the themes of our genitalia words have remained over time. As green told reporters shortly after his study was published, “The penis is often going to be some kid of weapon, the vagina some kind of narrow passage, intercourse some way of saying ‘man hits woman.”

LanguageGenitaliaEuphemisms
Book:Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language
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“Overall it’s really clear that the way we talk about genitals is a super concentrated representation of how we thing about sex and gender,” he [Lal Zimman] tells me. “The research that people have done on heteronormative gender naming really shows that our worst cultural values are reflected in the ways we talk about genitals. Like penises are always weapons that exist for penetrating, sex is always violence, and women and vaginas are passive and absence, just a place to put a penis.”

LanguageGenitaliaEuphemisms
Book:Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language
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“It's a guy thing. We like euphemisms. He could just as easily have said doing the nasty, shagging, banging, screwing, humping, baking the potato, boning, boom-boom, four-legged foxtrot, glazing the donut, hitting a home run, launching the meat missile, makin' bacon, opening the gates of Mordor, pelvic pinochle, planting the parsnip, releasing the kraken, rolling in the hay, stuffin' the muffin, or two-ball in the middle pocket..." He trailed off when he noticed their shocked expressions. "Or sex," he added. "He could have just said that." "No wonder you don't have a girlfriend." Layla gave him a withering look. "I can't imagine a woman who would stick around after you took her for a nice dinner and then said, Hey babe, let's go launch the meat missile , or my personal favorite, release the kraken." "I didn't say I used them." Sam loosened his collar. Why was the restaurant so damn hot? "You know them. That's bad enough." Dilip tipped his head to the side. "What's a kraken?" "That's what I'm going to do to Sam's head in about three seconds," Layla said. Sam smirked. "A kraken is an enormous mythical sea monster." "Are we in middle school?" Layla looked around the bare room in mock confusion. "Because I could swear you were just talking about the size of your-”

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Book:The Marriage Game
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