AA:I'mAviArdittiwithRosanneSkirble, andthisweekonWORDMASTER: There'sanewbookcalled"Euphemania: OurLoveAffairWithEuphemisms."

RS:AuthorRalphKeyesdefineseuphemismsascomfortwordsthatweuseinplaceofwordsthatmakeusfeeluncomfortable.

RALPHKEYES:"Todaywenolongerfeelanystrongneedtosay'gad'or'golly'insteadofGod. Andyeteuphemismsreflectchangingvalues. We'remuchmorelikelytodaytomakeeuphemismsoutofwordsformoneyormoney-relatedmatters, forwar, fordeath.

"Ifwearen'tcomfortablesayingwe'slaughter'meat, we'butcher'meat, wecanalwayssaywe'processit.'IwasrecentlyataparkinCaliforniaandattheentrancetotheparkitsaid'Feralpigdepredationinprocess.'"

AA:"Huh?"

RalphKeyes

RALPHKEYES:"Depredation. Yeah, huh, exactly."

AA:"Feralpig-- oh, Igetit."

RALPHKEYES:"Alotofpigsaregoingtodie. Butwe'renotcomfortablesaying'die.'Ifyouwalkthrougholdgraveyards, andI'vedonethis, sometimeseventheold, oldtombstoneswouldtalkabout'Wormsareeatinghiscorpse'and'Soon, youshallbelikeme.'Nowadayswewouldn'tdreamofusingwordslikethose. Youknow, people'pass,'they'passon,'they'wentover,'youknow, theywere'calledhome.'"

AA:Well, interestingly, onethingIlearnedfromyourbookiswhat'consumption'is. I'dbeenhearingthatwordallmylifeandneverreallyknewwhatitwas. Whydon'tyoutelluswhatconsumptionis?"

RALPHKEYES:"Well, thisoneispersonaltomebecausemygreat-grandmother, MyrtieLacey, diedofconsumption. AnditwasonlyquiteafewyearslaterthatIlearnedthatconsumptionisanold-timeeuphemismfortuberculosis. Tuberculosisusedtobethebiggestkiller, andsowecameupwithlotsofeuphemismsforthatdisease, themostcommononebeing'consumption'becausetuberculosis'consumed'thebody."

RS:"Doeuphemismschangeovertime? Inyourresearchdidyoufindthat?"

RALPHKEYES:"Oh, yes. We'realwayscleveraboutfindingnewwaystoexpressourselves. OnethingIsawandincludedinthebookwastheword'canoe.'[It] showedupasanold-timeeuphemismforsex. Well, I'vesincelearnedthat'goingcanoeing'isthefulleuphemism.

"Now, whyisthataeuphemism? Well, becauseinatimewhencouplesweresupposedtobechaperonedwhentheywereouttogether, theyquicklydiscoveredthatiftheywentoutinacanoe, therewasn'troomforathirdperson. Andtodaywesay'hookup.'"

AA:"Well, youknow, andonasomewhatrelatedtopic, latelytherewasallthiscontroversyaboutthenewincreasedsecuritymeasuresattheairportsintheUS, andthisnewphrase'Don'ttouchmyjunk'hasbecome-- "

RALPHKEYES:"Isn'tthatamazing? Wheredid'junk'comefrom?"

AA:"And, ofcourse, we'retalkingabout'privates'Laughter

RALPHKEYES:"Privates, exactly. Thankyou, Avi."

RS"'Privateparts.'"

AA:"'Privateparts,'tousethetechnicalterm."

RALPHKEYES:"Right."

RS:"Youtalkabouthowourvaluesarechanging. Howdoyouseethrougheuphemismsthatourlivesarechanging?"

RALPHKEYES:"Well, youcantellwhatissueswe'reconcernedaboutmost. Theoldestknowneuphemismisbear. 'Bear'isaderivationof'bruin,'whichmeans'thebrownone.'AndsomeofourearliestancestorsinnorthernEuropeweresoafraidofthislarge, ferociousanimalthattheywouldn'tevensayitsactualname. Bearhasnowbecome, ofcourse, thestandardwordforthisanimal. Wenolongerknowwhattheoriginalwordwas."

AA:Today'seuphemismssuggesttoRalphKeyesthatpeoplearelikelytomoreafraidofbearmarketsthanactualbears.

RALPHKEYES:"Youdon'tevenusethewordmoney. Yousay'assets,''liquidassets.'Youdon't'borrow'money, you'leverage.'Youdon't'payoff'loans, you'deleverage.'Youknow, marketsdon't'fall,'there'san'equityretreat'ora'marketcorrection.'"

AA:"'Equity'itself-- thesehomeequityloans, thewaythatpeoplewereborrowingagainsttheirhomes. Theyusedtobecalledsecondmortgages."

RALPHKEYES:"Exactly. Whichisamuchmoreclearandominousterm-- a'secondmortgage.'It'slikeasecondballandchain, whichiswhyitgotchangedto'homeequityloans'bythelendingindustry."

RS:"Justonelastquestion, isfocusedonouraudienceofspeakersofEnglishasaforeignlanguage. Whatwouldyourecommend, whatadvicewouldyougiveforthemstudyingeuphemisms?"

RALPHKEYES:"Well, I'dlistenverycarefullyforthewayspeopleuseeuphemisms, becausetheydoallthetime, andyoucangetintroublebyeithernotunderstandingtheeuphemismsthatarebeingusedorusingthewrongones.

"Andincidentally, thiscanhappenevenamongEnglishspeakers. IntheUS, forexample, 'top-shelf'referstofirstrate[bestquality]. IntheUK, 'top-shelf'referstopornography, becauseit'skeptonatopshelf."

RS:RalphKeyesisanauthor, speakerandteacher. Hisnewestbookiscalled"Euphemania: OurLoveAffairWithEuphemisms." Andthat'sWORDMASTERforthisweek.

AA:Archivesareatvoanews.com/wordmaster. WithRosanneSkirble, I'mAviArditti.