2020-10-01 BWH group 4

Medical and other idioms

on the mend = healing / getting better
when push comes to shove = when the time has come for action or a final decision
add insult to injury = make an already bad situation worse
out cold = unconscious

euphemism = a neutral or positive way to talk about something unpleasant or uncomfortable
	passed away, deceased, departed, late, passed on, no longer with us, in a better place

“gosh” instead of “God”
“jeez” or “gee” instead of “Jesus”
“darn” or “dang” instead of “damn”
“shoot” instead of “shit”
“heck” instead of “hell”
“fudge” “frick” “freak” “frak” (or forms of these words) instead of “fuck”
(It turns out there’s a name for this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minced_oath)

soften the blow = alleviate the harshness of news or information you give someone

Some topics don’t really have neutral words, they just have euphemisms (including clinical terms) or dysphemisms (“restroom” and “lavatory” versus “shitter”, or “copulate” and “sleep with” versus “fuck”)

mince words = use things like euphemisms to soften or talk around a point

euphemism treadmill = words that started as euphemisms (especially for marginalized groups of people) become negative over time because people still have negative ideas about those people
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feminine hygiene
sanitary products