Euphemisms

Yesterday, I was talking to my son about different words and their meaning.  One of the words was 'euphemism.'   A euphemism is a generally innocuous word or expression used in place of one that may be found offensive or suggest something unpleasant.  For example, 'he passed away' rather than 'he died.'

I work out of my home, so today I came down from my upstairs office, plopped myself down in front of the TV, and began to eat lunch. After 15-20 minutes I advised my son, who now was in the kitchen fixing in his own lunch, that I needed to get up and go back to work.

"Oh dad, you don't need to do that!  Just stay there and relax more." he said.

I responded, "That's very tempting, but I better get back to work."

He said, "I know I'm not being a big help to you. I'm like the 'bad advice guy' on your shoulder."

"BAD ADVICE GUY??!!!" I queried. "You mean like the devil and angel?"

"Yeah!" he answered, "But I didn't want to call myself the 'Devil.'

"You know what that is, son?" I began, seizing the opportunity to capitalize on yesterday's lesson, "It's a …."

He interupts me and shouts out, "EUPHEMISM !!!"

I smiled as I went back to work, pleased that at least one of my lessons to my son did not go unheard.

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