[Ads-l] cuss word euphemisms

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Thu Dec 1 19:30:33 UTC 2016


> On Dec 1, 2016, at 2:20 PM, MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY RDECOM AMRDEC (US) <william.d.mullins18.civ at MAIL.MIL> wrote:
> 
> A story on NPR yesterday talked about how single mom college students would moderate their language around kids, using a couple of euphemisms that were new to me.
> 
> " "I still sometimes have my mommy voice on," she says. "I don't even swear anymore. I'll say like, 'Sugar honey ice tea!' or, like, 'Shut the front door!' " "
> 
> 
> That last one is presumably for "Shut the f--- up".
> 
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.npr.org_sections_ed_2016_11_18_502003007_when-2Dthe-2Dstudents-2Don-2Dcampus-2Dhave-2Dkids-2Dof-2Dtheir-2Down&d=CwIGaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=c2bYVoL-YXMHiSOcHuYQm8qIh_tvgnYAiOxVD2EoE4c&s=NRwn3Lh7C6x0YgF2VaE2TmYFf8T_awdqczvzjFXuSMI&e= 
> 
> 
And if she’s really upset with them, she can always reverse-engineer the classic etymythology for the origin of the middle-finger salute, viz. “Pluck yew!”
(cf. http://www.snopes.com/language/apocryph/pluckyew.asp <http://www.snopes.com/language/apocryph/pluckyew.asp>)

LH


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