|

Evasive Maneuvers Euphemisms old and new

Holy Pretzel! Euphemisms from Green's Dictionary of Slang

May 5, 2011
By Mark Peters
The current love of my life is Green's Dictionary of Slang: an enormous, meticulous, ridiculously wonderful historical dictionary that's the biggest slang collection ever made (uncurated Wiki-crapola like Urban Dictionary doesn't count). Jonathon Green's slangapalooza is an extraordinary source for fulfilling this column's mission: finding under-the-radar euphemisms. Continue reading...
TOPICS: Fun, Words, Usage
3 comments Suggest a topic / contribute

Celebrating "Euphemania": A Wayne Gretzkying Great Book

February 2, 2011
By Mark Peters
In this special edition of Evasive Maneuvers, our euphemism-meister Mark Peters reviews a new book on verbal evasions, Euphemania: Our Love Affair with Euphemisms by Ralph Keyes. According to Keyes, euphemisms serve as "an excellent way to determine what we find embarrassing." Continue reading...
TOPICS: Vocabulary, Books, Fun, Words
3 comments Suggest a topic / contribute

An Enhanced Look at the Euphemism of the Year

January 5, 2011
By Mark Peters
The American Dialect Society’s annual meeting is coming up, and like all word nerds, I have Word of the Year fever. I won’t be in Pittsburgh for the meeting, but as the only euphemism columnist in this star quadrant, I want to make a case for euphemism of the year. Continue reading...
TOPICS: Vocabulary, Fun, Words, Usage
7 comments Suggest a topic / contribute

Quench Your Thirst! (Within the Defect Action Levels, Of Course)

October 6, 2010
By Mark Peters
I've been embracing my adopted city of Chicago by reading a collection of Chicago Tribune legend Mike Royko's writing — namely, Sez Who? Sez Me. I haven't read Royko since I was a mere tyke (or at least a small dweeb) who was too young to fully grasp the awesomeness of Royko's hilarious, sharp, wide-ranging columns. They hold up great, and one piece on the end of the Vietnam war could pretty much be reprinted verbatim right now, at the (sorta) end of the Iraq war. Continue reading...
TOPICS: Vocabulary, Fun, Words, Usage
4 comments Suggest a topic / contribute

Streetwise Co-people Dust Some Crops

September 3, 2010
By Mark Peters
While reading the Aug. 19 Rolling Stone and trying to wrap my brain around Matt Taibbi's latest piece on our country's ongoing financial shenanigans, I stumbled onto an article on Katy Perry, who I know very little about due to my old age. Continue reading...
TOPICS: Vocabulary, Language, Fun, Words, Usage
Post a comment Suggest a topic / contribute

Sandwich Artists Profess Great Insight

August 4, 2010
By Mark Peters
I can only imagine how annoying the words Twitter and tweet are to people who haven't gotten in on the microblogging phenomenon. It's been over a year since I embraced all things tweet-y, and I like it so much that I continue praying to Zeus daily that Twitter never goes the way of Friendster and the pet rock. (Public service announcement: Neuter your pet rock. You can never be too careful.) Continue reading...
TOPICS: Vocabulary, Fun, Words, Usage
2 comments Suggest a topic / contribute

All-American Polypragmatists Get Sprizzlefracked

July 6, 2010
By Mark Peters

USA! USA! USA!

Sorry for the chanting and the giant foam finger. I just wanted to establish that this is a thoroughly all-American column and provide a smooth transition to a term that brings together two of my top two interests: euphemisms and dogs. Continue reading...
TOPICS: Vocabulary, Fun, Words, Usage
5 comments Suggest a topic / contribute
1 2 3 4 Displaying 1-7 of 28 Articles
DEPARTMENTS:
Word Routes Language Lounge Word Count Behind the Dictionary Candlepower Teachers at Work Wordshop Dog Eared Blog Excerpts Tasty Morsels Dept. of Word Lists Tips & Tricks Under the Hood