Euphemania: Our Love Affair with Euphemisms

by Ralph Keyes and TurtleMe

Book Overview

How did die become kick the bucket, underwear become unmentionables, and having an affair become hiking the Appalachian trail? Originally used to avoid blasphemy, honor taboos, and make nice, euphemisms have become embedded in the fabric of our language. Euphemania traces the origins of euphemisms from a tool of the church to a form of gentility to today's instrument of commercial, political, and postmodern doublespeak.

As much social...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316056561
• ISBN13: 9780316056564
• Release Date: December 2010
• Publisher: Little, Brown Spark
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.53 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.6" x 8.3"