R. W. Holder, "How Not To Say What You Mean: A Dictionary of Euphemisms (3rd Edition)"
Oxford University Press | 3rd Edition | 2002 | ISBN: 0198604025 | 521 pages | siPDF | 13.3 MB
From its first appearance in 1987 as
A Dictionary of American and British Euphemisms, Bob Holder's work has been the standard reference book tor those studying the language of evasion and understatement. This new edition, renamed
How Not To Say What You Mean, has been completely rewritten. It retains old favourites while adding over a thousand new entries, which reflect modern euphemistic terms on such issues as marriage, race, homosexuality, drug-taking, and security of employment. The quotations which accompany entries are both illustrative and interesting in their own right. Where appropriate, the etymology of a term is explained, giving a philological insight into this universally used, but little studied, branch of our language.