A euphemism is, to quote the Macmillan English Dictionary definition, ‘a word or expression that people use when they want to talk about something unpleasant or embarrassing without mentioning the thing itself’. We can all readily think of a few such expressions: pass on, or over, or away, meaning to die; describing someone as well-upholstered rather than using the hurtful word fat; referring to someone as being inside when in fact they are in prison. You might think that our upfront, plain-speaking age has no great need of such avoidance strategies, but here is lexicographer and writer on language John Ayto to demonstrate that the art of euphemism is alive and well. In this third edition of a book first published in 1993, Ayto has managed to gather together what the book’s cover describes as ‘over 3000 ways to avoid speaking your mind’.

The author points out in the introduction that all societies have areas of taboo – death and killing, sexual activity, madness and old age to name but a few - which people prefer not to talk about directly. Yet sometimes these topics must be addressed, presenting members of the society with the choice of breaking the taboo or finding alternative ways of talking about these difficult subjects. This is where euphemism comes in. It is, according to Ayto:

the set of communicative strategies we have evolved to refer to a topic under a taboo, without actually contravening its terms

So much for the theory. The book is divided into 13 chapters with titles such as Crime, Sex, Work and Poverty. Many will turn first to the chapters on Sex and The Body and Its Parts and will find plenty to entertain and inform in the accounts of the almost innumerable ways people have devised for talking indirectly about sex and the body parts most directly involved in it. Ayto’s field of reference is wide-ranging, from the archaic to the up-to-date, and taking in some very obscure byways indeed: for example, anyone who wonders how nookie came to be used as a euphemism for sex can find out on page 75!

Fascinating as these chapters are, others are at least as interesting. Work includes sections on such topics as Marketing (including the real meaning of economy), Unemployment (or involuntary leisure) and Money (why price adjustments always involve upward movement). The section on Dismissal shows the endlessly inventive ways in which those who have the unpleasant task of relieving others of their livelihoods seek to disguise this harsh truth with soft words. Ayto shows how new terms are constantly invented as the existing ones lose their euphemistic power, so that employees are dehired or outplaced rather than being fired, and downsizing quickly becomes rightsizing. There is plenty of food for thought too in the chapter on War, which examines the numerous ways in which we seek to avoid the uncomfortable fact that war involves killing people in large numbers.

Like Ayto’s other books, this one combines sound research and scholarship with a readable and entertaining style. It will fascinate anyone with an interest in language and the ways it is used. As for what Wobbly Bits are, if you can’t guess, you’ll have to look it up!