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Another member has challenged me to make a post about euphemisms. I mostly dislike them, but have hear a few worth repeating. I posted this one before, but haven't a large repertoire.
Please, AWADtalkers, contribute some examples, both clever and annoying.
A very likeable unmarried middle-aged lady who could be truthfully described as "an unclaimed blessing" excused the nastiness of a disagreeable old maid by saying: "Her problem is she has never been awakened."
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A very likeable unmarried middle-aged lady who could be truthfully described as "an unclaimed blessing" excused the nastiness of a disagreeable old maid by saying: "Her problem is she has never been awakened."Say wwh, your example above is an example of excellent and colorful prose, but I'm not sure that this allusion is a euphemism. To me the idea of Awakened, even if the phrase, by a man, is implied, doesn't necessarily represent a bounce in the bed, a roll in the hay, and so forth, ad nauseum. The act of Being awakened, like an unclaimed blessing, seems better understood as a larger, more significant, event than a mere euphemistic bang in bed. Of course I don't speak for the board. 
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Dear milum: thanks for your contribution. In another thread the phrase "fall pregnant" was discussed. I have seen a euphemism for this "an interesting condition". That's more la-di-da than clever.
A very ancient one" There once was an Indian maid
' ' ' Who was ever and ever so afraid
The some buckaroo
Would slip it up her flue
And reach her promised land.
So she had an idea grand
She'd stuff it up with sand..........(fine beach sand.......)
I wouldn't have posted this, except that our refined ladies have not contributed.
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I wouldn't have posted this, except that our refined ladies have not contributed. (emphasis mine)
Well, I don't know about the refined ladies, but I'm here. Your discussion prompted me to look up euphemism - just to clarify exactly what I was commenting on.
From the Cambridge International Dictionary of English:
euphemism
noun
(the use of) a word or phrase used to avoid saying another word or phrase that is more forceful and honest but also more unpleasant or offensive eg. 'Senior citizen' is a euphemism for 'old person'. [C]
How about euphemism as a euphemism for propaganda? Then there's the "[insert appropriate type here] challenged" eg. vertically challenged for people who are short. How about in real estate (property) ads where they talk about something being a "rare find" generally - upon inspection -found to mean that you won't find anything like it, because all the others have been bulldozed? Is that a euphemism, or am I getting the wrong idea here... not claiming to be any kind of expert, I'm here to learn.
Just found a site with a few fun ones - here's the link: http://makeashorterlink.com/?Z168120A
Hev
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I was going to highlight the relevant sections, but the '[', 'b' and ']' keys died from overuse...
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round:
And here were gardens bright with sinuous rills
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
A savage place! as holy and enchanted
As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon-lover!
And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
A mighty fountain momently was forced;
Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail:
And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
It flung up momently the sacred river.
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean:
And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war!
The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves:
Where was heard the mingled measure
From the fountain and the caves.
It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!
A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw:
It was an Abyssinian maid,
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of Mount Abora.
Could I revive within me
Her symphony and song,
To such a deep delight 't would win me
That with music loud and long,
I would build that dome in air,
That sunny dome! those caves of ice!
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise.
Kubla Khan - Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1798
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highlight the relevant sections, but the '[', 'b' and ']' keys died from overuse
Oh, please, Doc_C can you find some other highlighting mechanism? I'd love to see all the euphemisms in Kubla Khan (cos I'd probably miss them unless someone pointed them out). If someone had pointed them out to me in high school, I might have enjoyed it even more.
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[open invitation]I think I'll leave that the others. You know who you are[/open invitation]
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Dear doc_comfort: I'm baffled. I read the poem twice, and was unable to spot any euphemisms, in the sense of a chaste word for a vulgar subject.
Sometimes ironic phrases can be euphemisms. The New Yorker used to have a column named "In love with sound of own voice" dedicated to mocking pretentious writers.
There are many cutesy ways of referring to biological processes not considered suitable for explicit mention. The word "explicit" is now standard alert that something objectionable is about to appear.
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But oh! that deep romantic chasm... is probably the most obvious.
Don't know if this will clear things up, but think of the whole poem as a euphamism (or am I mixing this with metaphor) for a one-night stand.
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Dear doc_comfort: I looked at that phrase which taken out of context could be used to hide a sexual fantasy. But the following lines are too violent for such fantasy, it seems to me. I have heard of female ejaculation, but nothing like that!
Keiva sent me a PM mentioning "numbers", which reminded me of euphemism in grade school, where kids asked permission to go to toilet by holding up fingers, one meaning need to urinate, two meaning need to defecate. This is frequently used in sports stories with one coach bragging that his team "will do a number" on the opposition.
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