Word to the Wise: Euphemism

A "euphemism" (YOO-fuh-miz-um) is a nice way of saying something that is not nice. The word is from the Greek for "to use auspicious words."

Example (as used by Jeff Giles in a New York Times review of Legends of the Chelsea Hotel by Ed Hamilton): "The Chelsea Hotel describes itself as ‘a rest stop for rare individuals,’ a euphemism that still manages to pass the truth-in-advertising test if you take ‘rare individuals’ to mean artists and addicts, and ‘rest stop’ to mean possible death."