bad words cleansed

[Robert Lawless]

It is so exciting to hear from professional linguists. I have another
question that i suppose is linguistic. The other day I overheard the
teacher of my first-grade twin sons use the word "brown-nosing" in class.
After class I asked her whether she was aware of the origin of the phrase.
Of course, she wasn't. When I told her, she was horrified. How common is it
for bad words to be cleansed so that people use them with no knowledge of
their origins as pejorative comments? Is there a particular linguistic
label for this? Robert.
-------------- next part --------------

---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.471 / Virus Database: 269 - Release Date: 4/10/2003