--- title: Soft words for hard things: animals and pets and money and poverty — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Soft words for hard things: animals and pets and money and poverty», a lesson of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: People use soft words for things about animals they find unpleasant: toilets, killing and giving pet --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/18-pets-and-money/) [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: animals an… # Soft words for hard things: animals and pets and money and poverty Lesson 18 of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school: 24 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/18-pets-and-money/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/18-pets-and-money/0/) — People use soft words for things about animals they find unpleasant: toilets, killing and giving pets away. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/18-pets-and-money/1/) — Farmers, hunters and officials often use dry words like "culled", "processed" or "pest control" so killing sounds like ordinary work. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/18-pets-and-money/2/) — Owners say a pet was "rehomed" or is "free to a good home" so giving it away sounds kind rather than unwanted. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/18-pets-and-money/3/) — Money words are soft too: an official says "low-income" instead of "poor", and a friend says "money's a bit tight" instead of "I'm broke". - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/18-pets-and-money/4/) — For example, a cat that "left a present" on the doormat may have brought in a dead mouse. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/18-pets-and-money/5/) — "Altered" (US) means a pet has been neutered or spayed. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/18-pets-and-money/6/) — "Doctored" (old-fashioned US) means a pet has been neutered. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/18-pets-and-money/7/) — "Do its business" means a pet goes to the toilet. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/18-pets-and-money/8/) — "Made a mess" means a pet went to the toilet indoors. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/18-pets-and-money/9/) — "Left a present" is a joking way to say a pet left droppings or a dead animal. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/18-pets-and-money/10/) — "Culled" means animals were killed to reduce their numbers. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/18-pets-and-money/11/) — "Harvested" (US hunting jargon) means an animal was killed by hunters. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/18-pets-and-money/12/) — "Processed" means farm animals were slaughtered for meat. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/18-pets-and-money/13/) — "Dispatched" means an animal was killed quickly by a hunter or farmer. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/18-pets-and-money/14/) — "Rehomed" means a pet was given away to new owners. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/18-pets-and-money/15/) — "Surrendered" means a pet was given up to an animal shelter. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/18-pets-and-money/16/) — "Free to a good home" means the owner no longer wants the animal and is giving it away. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/18-pets-and-money/17/) — "Sent to the knacker's yard" (old-fashioned UK) means an old horse was sent to be slaughtered. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/18-pets-and-money/18/) — "Went to the glue factory" is a joking way to say an old horse was slaughtered. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/18-pets-and-money/19/) — "Pest control" means killing unwanted animals such as rats or mice. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/18-pets-and-money/20/) — "Economically disadvantaged" (official) means poor. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/18-pets-and-money/21/) — "Underprivileged" means poor and without the advantages most people have. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/18-pets-and-money/23/) — "Financially challenged" is a joking way to say poor or broke. - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/18-pets-and-money/24/) — "Money's a bit tight" means I do not have enough money. - ← previous: [Soft words for hard things: school reports and teachers and animals and pets](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/17-school-and-pets/) - next →: [Soft words for hard things: money and poverty](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/19-money-and-poverty/) - ↑ back to [Euphemisms](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/)