3) Work with your partner and discuss the following questions.

• Which euphemisms really help to avoid hurting others’ feeling?

• Which euphemisms sound ridiculous?

• Which euphemisms conceal the true meaning?

4) Here are some more examples of euphemisms.

a) Do you know what they mean?

oldest profession

chronologically gifted

mentally challenged

senior citizen

follicularly disadvantaged

animal companions

light-fingered

underprivileged people

cash flow problems

vertically challenged

liquid lunch

b) Now try to fill in the gaps with the words given above.

1. On this night, Auburn athletics director Mike Lude has been chartered in on a private plane to inform and amuse the guys. At 70, he talks of being "_________."

2. Eventually, the concept was taken to its absurd extreme, culminating in parodies such as the "Official Politically Correct Dictionary and Handbook" (New York City: Villard Books, 1992), in which bald persons are described as "_______" and short persons are "__________. "

3. Although it may be that someone somewhere actually argued seriously that short people ought to be called _________ or that pets ought to be called ________, for instance, I'm convinced that by now most of the bizarre euphemisms identified with political correctness were invented in the course of making fun of it.

4. Never mind that her daily regimen included vodka-spiked tea at breakfast, a ________, an afternoon pass-out - sometimes face-first in a bar parking lot -- and a cocktail hour that lasted through dinner and on past when my father fell asleep to Johnny Carson's monologue. The irony was lost on her.

5. U.S. State Department estimates that approximately 800,000 new victims fall prey to transnational commercial sexual exploitation each year. Globalization has allowed the _________ in the world to go global.

6. "Let her get to trust you," Bic had instructed. "All these real estate agents are taught to keep an eye on prospective buyers so they don't get ________ when they're being shown around houses.

7. Did Ms. Berenson, once an A student at La Guardia High School of Music and Art and Performing Arts, merely follow a long-standing desire to help _______ and become friendly with members of the Tupac Amaru, whom she believed had renounced a violent past?

8. You are already helping by setting a good example as you treat ________ people with kindness and respect. They want to be accepted and loved just like everyone else does.

9. About 40,000 older Georgians receive benefits from federal programs for the elderly. Federal dollars pay for _________ centers and provide in-home care to seniors who are homebound.

10. Piper had to close down for two weeks in February because of ________ . It has since extended its line of credit, raised the price on the Cadet, to $59,000, stretched out its production schedules and speeded up deliveries of higher-margin, larger plane orders to bring cash into the coffers.

c) Compare your answers with a partner.

d) Go back to questions from the previous exercise and discuss them concerning the euphemisms from this exercise.