Euphemism
Euphemism :
By this figure we speak in gentle and favourable terms of some person, object or event which is ordinarily seen in a less pleasing light.
1. He was gathered to his forefathers (= he died).
2. He was Her Majesty's guest (= in prison) for two years.
A partial historian, in speaking of Henry VIII, the second of the Tudors, who divorced two and beheaded two more of the six wives to whom he was married in succession, describes him as having been singularly unfortunate in all his relations with women.
A sympathetic writer, alluding to the madness of Cowper, describes the event by a series of euphemistic metaphors.
Discord fell on the music of his soul. The sweet sounds and wandering lights departed from him. Yet he wore no less a loving face, although he was so broken-hearted.
Euphemism :
The Sentences Index
