How Not to Say What You Mean: A Dictionary of Euphemisms

Delightful, quirky and exhaustive, Holder's dictionary of American and British circumlocutions is the kind of reference work that one can spend hours browsing through happily. This third edition includes thousands of alphabetized entries for both old-fashioned and contemporary terms. The term""uncover nakedness,"" for example, used be a standard Biblical translation for""copulate,"" though many people wouldn't recognize that use today. (Incidentally,""to line"" also meant to copulate, and Holder cites part of Shakespeare's As You Like It as an example of such use:""Winter garments must be lined/So must slender Rosaline."")""Deep six,""""underprivileged"" and""rip off"" still enjoy healthy use, and in Ireland""scuttered"" still means""drunk."" For Holder, however, this project is about more than just having fun with word games. In fine Orwellian spirit, Holder writes in his introduction that euphemism is""the language of evasion, of hypocrisy, of prudery, and of deceit,"" which makes it all the more important to be able to see through the embroidery.