euphemism

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The Word of the Day for May 1 is: 

euphemism   \YOO-fuh-miz-um\   noun
     : the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that 
may offend or suggest something unpleasant; also : the expression so substituted

Example sentence:
     Aunt Helen would never say that someone had "died"; she preferred to 
communicate the unpleasant news with euphemisms like "passed on."

Did you know?
     "Euphemism" derives from the Greek word "euphemos," which means 
"auspicious" or "sounding good." The first part of "euphemos" is the Greek 
prefix "eu-," meaning "well." The second part is "pheme," a Greek word for 
"speech" that is itself a derivative of the verb "phanai," meaning "to speak." 
Among the numerous linguistic cousins of "euphemism" on the "eu-" side of the 
family are "eulogy," "euphoria," and "euthanasia"; on the "phanai" side, its 
kin include "prophet" and "aphasia" ("loss of the power to understand words").





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