Historically, euphemism has been correlated to fear or superstition. For example, often times we hear death referred to as passing away; while death is inevitable, avoiding direct reference to it both ...

MODERN American speech, while not always clear or correct or turned with much style, is supposed to be uncommonly frank. Witness the current explosion of four-letter words and the explicit discussion ...

President Barack Obama was proud to become the first sitting president to address Planned Parenthood last Friday. But not proud enough to utter the word “abortion.” The right to abortion is the ...

Each year, linguists, lexicographers and other language nuts gather at an annual conference under the banner of the American Dialect Society. The highlight of the confab is a raucous vote for choosing ...