euphanism

[Jonathan Lighter]

About a thousand raw Googlits for "euphanism," sometimes in the sense of "synonym."

  But what you're really interested in are its nine appearances at Google Books, especially the half-dozen examples from Congressional Committee hearings back to 1977.

  Then there's this 1864 ex. of the homophonous "euphenism":

  1864 William Swinton _McClellan's Military Career Reviewed and Exposed_  (N.Y.: N.Y. Times) 24: Gen. McClellan...beat a retreat to the James River. This act he dignified at the time by the euphenism of "change of base."

  Google Books finds 28 more of these, one of 'em from 1823.

  JL


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