Euphemism

YOO-fuh-mism

A trope that gilds a rhetorical lily.

Like most rhetorical terms, this one comes from the Greek, meaning “substitute something pleasing.” Not all euphemism is ironic; the military term “collateral damage” to mean civilian death and destruction lacks irony. But that just shows why it’s best to stick to euphemistic irony: people resent a serious euphemism. 

During Victorian times, the gentility never referred to “legs” in mixed company. Even a table was held up by “limbs.”  One of my favorite euphemisms is the word dandelion. Its original name was pissenlit, which means "wet the bed." (The tea from its leaves encourages that sort of thing.) 

Headhunter: biological artifacts collector. Word Hero

Saying a fat dog has a "low hound-to-pound ratio." Word Hero

Agrippa: Royal wench!/ She made great Caesar lay his sword to bed;/He plowed her, and she cropped. Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra