--- title: Soft words for hard things: pregnancy and birth — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Soft words for hard things: pregnancy and birth», a lesson of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Grown-ups often talk about babies coming in soft, roundabout words instead of plain ones. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/11-pregnancy-and-birth/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Euphemisms](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/) / Soft words for hard things: pregnancy… # Soft words for hard things: pregnancy and birth Lesson 11 of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school: 23 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/euphemisms/11-pregnancy-and-birth/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/11-pregnancy-and-birth/0/) — Grown-ups often talk about babies coming in soft, roundabout words instead of plain ones. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/11-pregnancy-and-birth/2/) — The soft word is a kindness or a joke, but the plain meaning underneath is always the same. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/11-pregnancy-and-birth/3/) — Vivid example: when Nan says «Auntie Jo has a little one on the way», she simply means Auntie Jo is pregnant and a baby is coming. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/11-pregnancy-and-birth/4/) — "A blessed event" means the birth of a baby (old-fashioned, mostly US). - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/11-pregnancy-and-birth/5/) — "Up the duff" means pregnant (British slang, rather rude). - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/11-pregnancy-and-birth/6/) — "In the pudding club" means pregnant (British slang, jokey). - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/11-pregnancy-and-birth/7/) — "Preggers" means pregnant (British slang, chatty). - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/11-pregnancy-and-birth/8/) — "A little one on the way" means a baby is expected. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/11-pregnancy-and-birth/9/) — "The patter of tiny feet" means a baby that is expected or wanted (jokey). - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/11-pregnancy-and-birth/10/) — "Bundle of joy" means a newborn baby. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/11-pregnancy-and-birth/11/) — "Started a family" means had their first child. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/11-pregnancy-and-birth/12/) — "Trying for a baby" means attempting to get pregnant. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/11-pregnancy-and-birth/13/) — "Happy accident" means a baby that was not planned but is loved (jokey). - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/11-pregnancy-and-birth/14/) — "Change-of-life baby" means a baby born when the mother is near the end of the age for having children (old-fashioned). - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/11-pregnancy-and-birth/15/) — "Lost the baby" means had a miscarriage: the baby died before it could be born. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/11-pregnancy-and-birth/16/) — "Pregnancy loss" is the official phrase for a miscarriage or a stillbirth (a baby that dies just before or while being born). - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/11-pregnancy-and-birth/17/) — "Termination" is the official word for an abortion, ending a pregnancy on purpose. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/11-pregnancy-and-birth/18/) — "Baby bump" means a belly that clearly shows a pregnancy. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/11-pregnancy-and-birth/19/) — "Showing" means the pregnancy can now be seen. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/11-pregnancy-and-birth/20/) — "Confinement" means the time around giving birth (old-fashioned, mostly UK). - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/11-pregnancy-and-birth/21/) — "Love child" means a child whose parents were not married (old-fashioned). - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/11-pregnancy-and-birth/22/) — "Born out of wedlock" is the official phrase for born to parents who were not married. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/11-pregnancy-and-birth/23/) — "Natural child" means a child born to unmarried parents (old-fashioned, UK). - ← previous: [Soft words for hard things: weight and pregnancy and birth](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/10-weight-and-babies/) - next →: [Soft words for hard things: pregnancy and birth and relations and family](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/12-birth-and-couples/) - ↑ back to [Euphemisms](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/)