Euphemism Quotes - Page 2

• In practice [monetary management] is merely a high-sounding euphemism for continuous currency debasement. It consists of constant lying in order to support constant swindling. Instead of automatic currencies based on gold, people are forced to take managed currencies based on guile. Instead of precious metals they hold paper promises whose value falls with every bureaucratic whim. And they are suavely assured that only hopelessly antiquated minds dream of returning to truth and honesty and solvency and gold.

  Henry Hazlitt

  Dream, Honesty, Lying

  "What You Should Know about Inflation".

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• when I spoke of having a drink, it was a euphemism for having a whole flock of them.

  Margaret Halsey

  Drinking, Flocks, Spokes

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• The middles cleave to euphemisms not just because they're an aid in avoiding facts. They like them also because they assist their social yearnings towards pomposity. This is possible because most euphemisms permit the speaker to multiply syllables, and the middle class confuses sheer numerousness with weight and value.

  Paul Fussell

  Class, Facts, Weight

  Paul Fussell (1992). “Class: A Guide Through the American Status System”, p.160, Simon and Schuster

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• To call yourself 'plus size' is just a euphemism for being fat. Life is much easier when you're thinner. Big is not beautiful, of course a job comes down to how you look.

  Katie Hopkins

  Beautiful, Jobs, Looks

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• The term ‘free market’ is really a euphemism. What the far right actually means by this term is ‘lawless market.’ In a lawless market, entrepreneurs can get away with privatizing the benefits of the market (profits) while socializing its  costs (like pollution).

  Steve Kangas

  Mean, Entrepreneur, Cost

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• When we shrink from the sight of something, when we shroud it in euphemism, that is usually a sign of inner conflict, of unsettled hearts, a sign that something has gone wrong in our moral reasoning.

  Matthew Scully

  Heart, Sight, Gone

  Matthew Scully (2011). “Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy”, p.320, Souvenir Press

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• "Fussy eater" is a euphemism for "big pain in the ass."

  George Carlin

  Pain, Humorous, Ass

  "A Place for My Stuff". Comedy album by George Carlin, 1981.

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• Every individual needs revolution, inner division, overthrow of the existing order, and renewal, but not by forcing them upon his neighbors under the hypocritical cloak of Christian love or the sense of social responsibility or any of the other beautiful euphemisms for unconscious urges to personal power.

  Carl Jung

  Beautiful, Christian, Responsibility

  Carl Gustav Jung (1966). “The Collected Works of C. G. Jung: Two essays on analytical psychology”

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• As societies grow decadent, the language grows decadent, too. Words are used to disguise, not to illuminate, action: you liberate a city by destroying it. Words are to confuse, so that at election time people will solemnly vote against their own interests.

  Gore Vidal

  Communication, Cities, People

  Gore Vidal (2004). “Imperial America: Reflections on the United States of Amnesia”, p.52, CLAIRVIEW BOOKS

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• It is time to stop the mealy-mouthed euphemisms: 'Nationalists', 'Loyalists', 'Communities', 'Ethnic Groups', 'Cultures', 'Civilizations'. Religions is the word you need. Religions is the word you are struggling hypocritially to avoid.

  Richard Dawkins

  Struggle, Civilization, Community

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• In our time political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible.

  George Orwell

  Time, Writing, Political Language

  George Orwell (1956). “The Orwell Reader: Fiction, Essays, and Reportage”, New York : Harcourt, Brace

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• The intangibles are a euphemism for we have no idea what we're looking for but we know it when we see it.

  Brian Billick

  Ideas, Knows, No Idea

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• The Greeks distinguished between good and bad behavior, language that enhanced or diminished persons. Being intoxicated with scientism, we fail to recognize that the seemingly technical terms used to identify psychiatric illnesses and interventions are simply dyphemisms and euphemisms.

  Thomas Szasz

  Greek, Language, Failing

  "The Untamed Tongue: A Dissenting Dictionary". Book by Thomas Szasz, 1990.

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• Only in this town, where we make an industry out of creating euphemisms, can we have enough sugar to sugarcoat this nonsense.

  Byron Dorgan

  Creating, Sugar, Towns

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• Devising a vocabulary for gardening is like devising a vocabulary for sex. There are the correct Latin names, but most people invent euphemisms. Those who refer to plants by Latin name are considered more expert, if a little pedantic.

  Diane Ackerman

  Sex, Latin, Vocabulary

  Diane Ackerman (2002). “Cultivating Delight: A Natural History of My Garden”, G K Hall & Company

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• Euphemisms are for the differently brained.

  Spider Robinson

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• Today, when death and old age are increasingly concealed behind euphemisms and comforting baby talk, and life is threatened with being smothered in the mass consumption of hypnotic mechanized vulgarity, the need to confront man with the reality of his situation is greater than ever. For the dignity of man lies in his ability to face reality in all its senselessness; to accept it freely, without fear, without illusions - and to laugh at it.

  Martin Esslin

  Baby, Lying, Reality

  Martin Esslin (2009). “The Theatre of the Absurd”, p.429, Vintage

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• Cloud computing is a great euphemism for centralization of computer services under one server.

  Evgeny Morozov

  Clouds, Computer, Centralization

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• To speak specifically of our problem with the Muslim world, we are meandering into a genuine clash of civilizations, and we're deluding ourselves with euphemisms. We're talking about Islam being a religion of peace that's been hijacked by extremists. If ever there were a religion that's not a religion of peace, it is Islam.

  Sam Harris

  Talking, Civilization, Islam

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• Do you know what I was smiling at? You wrote down that you were a writer by profession. It sounded to me like the loveliest euphemism I had ever heard. When was writing ever your profession? It's never been anything but your religion.

  J. D. Salinger

  Writing, Heard, Profession

  "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction". Book by J. D. Salinger, 1963.

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• Do not put statements in the negative form. And don't start sentences with a conjunction. If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing. Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do. Unqualified superlatives are the worst of all. De-accession euphemisms. If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is. Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky. Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.

  William Safire

  Editing, Long, Sound

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• For one thing, before the 20th century, there were plenty of genocides. We tend to forget about them, partly because they weren't as well documented and partly because, until recently, people didn't care. We used euphemisms like 'sackings' and 'sieges' instead of calling them 'genocides.'

  Steven Pinker

  People, Calling, Care

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• Some kids get called "bundles of joy" or "slices of heaven" or "dreams come true." We got "the fifty-fourth generation of DNA experiments." Doesn't have the same warm and fuzzy feel. But maybe I'm oversensitive.

  James Patterson

  Dream, Kids, Dna

  "Angel: A Maximum Ride Novel". Book by James Patterson, February 14, 2011.

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• She started thinking about all the euphemisms for death, all the anxious taboos that had always fascinated her. It was too bad you could never have an intelligent discussion on the subject. People were either too young or too old, or else they didn't have time.

  Tove Jansson

  Intelligent, Thinking, People

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• Kate, perhaps you need to explain to your significant other that he is in no position to give me orders. Last time I checked, his title was Beast Lord, which is a gentle euphemism for a man who strips nude at night and runs around through the woods hunting small woodland creatures. I'm a premier Master of the Dead. I will go where I please.

  Ilona Andrews

  Running, Night, Men

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