Euphemisms simplest responses game

Euphemisms simplest responses game

Listen to your teacher say two things with the same meaning, one of which is more direct/ literal, and the other of which is more indirect/ more polite/ more euphemistic/ more idiomatic. Without looking below, raise the A card or the B card depending on which you think is more euphemistic/ less direct, the first thing they say (A) or the second thing they say (B).

When your teacher stops the listening and raising cards game, look at the list below and work together to circle the version on each line which you think is more euphemistic/ less direct.

A	B
die	go to a better place
in your birthday suit	naked
big boned	fat
likes his food	overeater
economical with the truth	a liar
firing someone	letting someone go
on gardening leave	suspended
going all the way	sex
a bun in the oven	pregnant
lady of the night	sex worker
between jobs	unemployed
not keep it down	vomit
dead	no longer with us
drunk	tired and emotional
toilet	restroom
defecation	number two
a log	a shit
number one	urine
urinate	water the flowers
a fart	wind
to blow off	to fart
have sex with someone	sleep with someone
adult entertainment	pornography
marihuana	Mary Jane
cannabis	hash
H	heroin
cocaine	coke
methamphetamine	speed
magic mushrooms	shrooms
a little drunk	merry
getting on	old
fallen off the back of a lorry	stolen
have sticky fingers	be a thief
no oil painting	ugly
genitals	private parts
John Thomas	penis
down there	vagina
menstruation	time of the month
diarrhoea	the runs
pre-loved	second hand
not short of a bob or two	rich
cooking the books	financial fraud
making people redundant	restructuring
gentlemen’s club	strip club
do away with	murder
final resting place	grave
a cold	a sniffle
a virus	a bug
balding	thin on top
laughter lines	wrinkles
arse	backside
late	running behind
breasts	bust
balls	testicles
acne	pimples
confusion	dementia
depression	feeling blue
contraceptive pill	the pill
condom	rubber
incontinence	have an accident
constipated	backed up
come	semen
hard of hearing	nearly deaf

 

Check with the suggested answers or as a class. Then ask about any which you don’t understand, you are not sure have the same meaning, you can’t pronounce, etc, discussing if there are euphemisms for that thing in others language(s) each time.

Test each other on the language in groups:

• play the same holding up cards game, with only the person who is reading out the two versions looking below
• say a euphemism and see if your partner can explain what it means
• say a direct version and see if your partner can say a euphemism for that thing (with other euphemisms not in this lesson also okay).

Cards to hold up

Suggested answers with the euphemisms in bold