Tuesday 31 March 2015

Euphemisms in Quotes 4



Don't quite see why Jan Moir says I ‘moaned’ about no grey in M&S ad. I sharply observed in a single tweet. No room for moaning! (@wmarybeard, Aug 2013)

The Whistles customer is over 25 and wants to be fashionable in the broader sense. (Jane Shepherdson, The Guardian, Jan 31 08 She means they don't want to be fashionable. And by "over-25s" she means "over-45s".)

But isn't “rant” a frequently used synonym for “argument uncomfortable, so I'd better use a pejorative term”? (The Rev David Grieve)

noble atheism: Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi accuses Hitchens and Dawkins of irony and sarcasm, and prefers “noble atheism or agnosticism, not the polemical kind”. (May 2010)

We were quite intellectual you know – pompous! (Bloke from Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark)

Demolishing a 100 year-old 'landmark fire station' is called an upgrade in Leytonstone. (‏@JonathanFoyle)

When did arguing the opposite case become a 'smear'? (Byzantine Ambassador ‏@byzantinepower )

"Free at point-of-use" is Tory double-speak for privatization. (Winston Smith ‏@Globalidentity)

'Twitter mob'
= public opinion the Daily Mail doesn't like. 'Silent majority' = public opinion the Daily Mail likes. (James O'Brien ‏@mrjamesob)

Perpetrators on what they plan to do to Spiegelhalter’s, the Victorian shop stuck in the facade of a department store: It will “be a new vibrant heart of the redevelopment, as homage to the Spiegelhalter story... We think it can be done in a way which makes the gap even more meaningful, to make it into an art piece which tells the Spiegelhalter story on its surface.” But it involves destroying Spiegelhalter's completely.

For "libertarian" read self-centred sod everyone else I'll do what I like. (‏@peopleman)

By "infuriates human rights lobby" I assume they mean "infuriates any humans with a sense of morality". (Twitter)

Tottenham Ct Rd Paolozzi Murals @tfl 'Don't fit with our design' = 'didn't value them'. (@JonathanFoyle)

Tower blocks = socialist = bad. Towers = free market = good. (Ben Jones/@benpatio)

'The Gay Agenda' - People wanted to be treated fairly and have the same rights as everyone else. (@MrOzAtheist )

Gwyneth Paltrow has surprisingly nuanced views on cheating. (TheGloss/‏@theglossdotcom They mean “she doesn’t condemn infidelity outright”.)

obsession: in the news this week (“This obsession with exposing natural history trickery is just a fad.” Guardian January 2014)

This building is very atmospheric. And by atmospheric I mean creepy. Very, very creepy. (Rory Bremner visits an old jail.)

Remember that in BBC and tabloid speak, the Tories have 'donors' while Labour has 'paymasters'. (@ivanwhite48)

The power station-reborn-as-mall will be reached along a “high street” (AKA a gauntlet of luxury apartments).

Key workers: Low-paid public servants. (Aditya Chakrabortty, Guardian May 2014)

I always speak my mind. (Katie Hopkins Translates as "I always say objectionable things. And plain mean and nasty things, because people like reading and hearing them.")

Muslim shooter = entire religion guilty Black shooter = entire race guilty White shooter = mentally troubled lone wolf. (‏@sallykohn)

More euphemisms here, and links to the rest.
Lots more euphemisms in my ebook:
Boo and Hooray: Dysphemisms and Euphemisms

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