# Odd Euphemisms **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 9, 2021, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-euphemisms/955745 "2021-12-09T01:30:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-euphemisms/955745/41 "2021-12-15T07:14:04Z")
I get that. I just don’t like the [mis]use of a very generic word like that. You can say, “due to a landslide that blocked the only access highway, the small town of Bumfuck is currently no longer accessible by land.” Fine. No problem with that. Unless I have a helicopter, I can’t get there from here. That’s what the word means. I know what the PC version is _ **supposed** _ to mean, I just don’t agree with the usage. It’s not about empathy for the disabled, it’s about linguistic precision. And yes, it’s the prescriptivist side of me showing its leering, mocking face again! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-euphemisms/955745/42 "2021-12-15T07:23:43Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Unless I have a helicopter, I can’t get there from here. That’s what the word means. I know what the PC version is _ **supposed** _ to mean, I just don’t agree with the usage. Nothing in my house was accessible to my friend once she became confined to a wheelchair: not the house itself, because of entry stairs, not the bedrooms, because of hallway limitations, not the bathroom, not the bedrooms. How is this not a definition of “accessible”? Nothing in it can be accessed by someone in a wheelchair. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-euphemisms/955745/43 "2021-12-15T07:42:33Z")
So, if you heard from a friend you had not seen for a long time, and they asked you to describe your house, would your first inclination be to say, “Well, it’s inaccessible. Also, it’s unaffordable”? I’m just not a fan of euphemisms, that’s all. Maybe there are smarter people than I who have established that gentle but confusing euphemisms have a social purpose. ---
**Author:** ![gregorio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@gregorio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gregorio)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-euphemisms/955745/44 "2021-12-15T15:01:04Z")
Pilots and other observers here on this board describe a certain method of coming to an abrupt stop as **lithobraking**. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-euphemisms/955745/45 "2021-12-15T15:44:15Z")
“Affordable housing” doesn’t necessarily mean subsidized housing\* - and people don’t typically describe their own housing as “affordable housing” except when they first get in . Someone might say they were chosen in a lottery for affordable housing, but that’s about it. \* There could be a subsidy , there could be a tax break to the landlord or it could be something like a limited-equity co-op , where you buy into the co-op but when you sell it you can’t sell it at market rate and will make little or no profit . Which is how one that I know of is selling 3 room apartments in [Manhattan](https://www.pennsouth.coop/faq-info-for-applicants-on-the-waiting-lists.html) for about $108K. There are always income limitations on housing described “affordable”. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-euphemisms/955745/46 "2021-12-15T16:22:15Z")
Coincidentally, I came across a skit from comedian Demetri Martin where he coined two euphemisms. “a short sleeved magician” - when somebody is very transparent and you can easily tell what they are doing. “a sold pie shack” - when something you expect to go very badly ends up really good. Like when you buy a pie shack, but it does really badly, because who would buy a pie from a shack, so you need to sell it, but nobody wants to buy a shack that sells pies, until you end up meeting somebody who does buy it, so it ends up good in the end, because you sold your pie shack. … Also another one I thought of: “Mother’s little helper” for Valium prescribed by doctors in the 1950s. ETA: those two “euphemisms” may technically be like Alanis Morrisette’s “ironic” (e.g. not actually so), but I heard it this morning and it reminded me of this thread, so there. ---
**Author:** ![Yelnick\_McWawa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/839c29/32.png) [@Yelnick\_McWawa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yelnick_McWawa)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-euphemisms/955745/47 "2021-12-15T18:04:19Z")
> [@gregorio](#): > > Pilots and other observers here on this board describe a certain method of coming to an abrupt stop as **lithobraking**. Controlled flight into terrain is sometimes referred to as an attempt to fly in granite meteorological conditions Also: an uncontrolled fire or an explosion is a rapid oxidation ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-euphemisms/955745/48 "2021-12-15T19:58:00Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > If a building doesn’t have a wheelchair ramp, does that mean it’s “inaccessible”, and I’ll have to hire a helicopter and be lowered in through the skylight on the roof? It means you don’t get in or have to be carried in. If you’re having problems with people collapsing “wheelchair accessible”, “handicapped accessible”, or “ADA accessible” to just “accessible”, just think of all the ink that the government is saving. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-euphemisms/955745/49 "2021-12-15T22:38:42Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > I might be a bit more willing to give “accessible” a pass, but I’d prefer to call it something like “facilitated access”. Because every damn building open to the public is “accessible” to the public, by definition. You seem to be assuming that people who can’t, for instance, climb stairs are not members of the public. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-euphemisms/955745/50 "2021-12-15T23:10:59Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > I recently saw that guy who burned the Fox Christmas tree called “unhoused”. (When that becomes unacceptable, the euphemism will be “differently domiciled”.) ? I see how “differently domiciled” is a euphemistic expression for “not having a place to live”, but I don’t see how “unhoused” qualifies as a euphemism. The word “unhoused” seems to me at least as explicit and direct as the word “homeless”. What’s euphemistic about it? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-euphemisms/955745/51 "2021-12-16T01:44:19Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > What’s euphemistic about it? The sheer lack of necessity for it when there is already a perfectly cromulent existing option. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-euphemisms/955745/52 "2021-12-16T02:34:46Z")
I am at a disadvantage because I have never heard the word “unhoused” before today - it’s apparently used more on the West Coast than the East. And I haven’t been able to find a clear definition for it - it may be a example of changing language because of connotations that “homeless” has picked up , it may be because some people consider their tent , their car or their neighborhood their home. Or it may be something like the difference between “unsheltered” and “homeless” - they aren’t the same thing. Depending on the definition, you can be homeless while your family is living doubled up in another family’s apartment and under all definitions I know , you are counted as homeless while you are living in a homeless shelter or transitional housing. "Unsheltered’ refers to people who live in places unfit for human habitation, like cars, parks and abandoned buildings. There is often a need to distinguish these populations. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-euphemisms/955745/53 "2021-12-16T03:45:22Z")
> [@Bonum\_Legatum](#): > > “ **energetic disassembly** ”. I think that is a pretty common expression in aviation. Personally, I’m fond of the term ‘suboptimal’, though it’s not a euphemism. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-euphemisms/955745/54 "2021-12-16T16:11:47Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > A while back, we had an Aussie colleague stationed in the U.S. for a couple of years. She had some amusing stories about her culturally-unaware American neighbor (upon learning that she was Australian, he complimented her on how well she spoke English). Another time, the neighbor excused himself to go to the “didgeridoo”. She informed him, “We do have some euphemisms for the WC, but that is not one of them”. ---
**Author:** ![Pabitel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Pabitel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pabitel)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-euphemisms/955745/55 "2021-12-16T19:04:41Z")
My favorites have always been death euphemisms. The great list from the Parrot Sketch: He’s not pining! He’s passed on! This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be! He’s expired and gone to meet 'is maker! He’s a stiff! Bereft of life, he rests in peace! If you hadn’t nailed him to the perch he’d be pushing up the daisies! His metabolic processes are now history! He’s off the twig! He’s kicked the bucket, He’s shuffled off this mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleeding choir invisible! THIS IS AN EX-PARROT! But my favorite, which I first heard on “Time Team” from host Tony Robinson, “popped his clogs”. So evocative. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-euphemisms/955745/56 "2021-12-16T21:17:05Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > Dying: going to the great big \*\* in the sky, kicking the bucket, croaking   In a certain niche field of recreational aviation, this is called the “final glide”. ETA: > **[Final Glide | Soaring Society of America | Aviators & Gliders](https://www.ssa.org/category/final-glide/?id=662)** > > Read about past glider pilots and their legacy on the sport of soaring. Hear about the impact of their lives and their 'final glide' in soaring. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-euphemisms/955745/57 "2021-12-16T21:44:38Z")
Unhoused is an example of a different language process than euphemism, which is (I think anyway) a way of saying something that would be somewhat shocking in what used to be called polite company if spoken straight out. It’s like calling people with deep mental deficits cretins, then idiots then mentally retarded, then whatever it is now, all in a continual effort to escape the use of the word as a pejorative that is only good for a short time. Unhoused is a new coinage due to ‘homeless’ being now seen as a quasi-criminal permanent state. Some of these posts make me think of how in the equestrian world we speak of “unplanned dismounts” aka getting bucked off. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-euphemisms/955745/58 "2021-12-16T22:32:39Z")
A friend adopted her son from China. He was born without a full right arm; his arm ends in a nub, just above where his elbow would be. My friend originally planned to have him fitted for a prosthetic, but he’s always turned that down, because having only one arm has never stopped him from doing anything he wanted, like playing video games or even earning a black belt in taekwondo. It’s impressive, the things he can do with his half-arm; he can even wash his hand and floss his teeth. I realized after watching him that the “overly-PC” euphemism _differently abled_, which I’ve disliked as awkward and ungainly, is exactly the correct term for him; he has plenty of abilities that are different from mine or his mother’s, or anyone else with two full arms. Kinda amazing, really. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-euphemisms/955745/59 "2021-12-16T23:16:16Z")
My older brother told me of his time fixing radar and computers in the US Army in Korea. There were a couple of fixes he learned to try before anything else. I forget which he called the _Raytheon Reset_. He’d lift the device a couple inches and drop it, and of course unplug it and plug it back in. I was never in the military, but I had the impression that _short-arm inspection_ was a check for STD symptoms. _STD_ is what we now use for what used to be euphemized as _Venereal Diseases,_ sickness from Venus, the goddess of love. I’d always heard the Men At Work lyric as, “Where women glow (sweat) and men chunder (barf)”. I heard a racing announcer describe a driver’s spin into the infield as _unplanned agricultural driving._ ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-euphemisms/955745/60 "2021-12-16T23:26:54Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > euphemism, which is (I think anyway) a way of saying something that would be somewhat shocking in what used to be called polite company if spoken straight out. Right, like how some women never pee or fart, but do regularly leave the dinner table at a restaurant to “powder their nose” or “freshen up”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-euphemisms/955745.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-euphemisms/955745.md?page=4)