--- title: Soft words for hard things: money and poverty and work, firing and the economy — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Soft words for hard things: money and poverty and work, firing and the economy», a lesson of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Banks and companies use dry, technical words so that debt and job losses sound like ordi --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/20-debt-and-jobs/) [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: money and… # Soft words for hard things: money and poverty and work, firing and the economy Lesson 20 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/20-debt-and-jobs/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/20-debt-and-jobs/0/) — Banks and companies use dry, technical words so that debt and job losses sound like ordinary paperwork. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/20-debt-and-jobs/1/) — A bank says "outstanding balance" for money you still owe, and "delinquent account" for a debt not paid on time. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/20-debt-and-jobs/2/) — A company that sacks hundreds of workers may call it "downsizing", "rightsizing" or "restructuring", which is spin to make it sound sensible. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/20-debt-and-jobs/3/) — When a boss is forced out, the press release often says he is leaving "to spend more time with family". - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/20-debt-and-jobs/4/) — For example, "We are streamlining the team" from a manager usually means some people are about to lose their jobs. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/20-debt-and-jobs/5/) — "In arrears" means behind on payments you owe, such as rent. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/20-debt-and-jobs/6/) — "Outstanding balance" means money you still owe. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/20-debt-and-jobs/7/) — "Delinquent account" (US jargon) means a debt that has not been paid on time. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/20-debt-and-jobs/8/) — "Subprime borrower" means a borrower with a bad credit history: a record of not paying back borrowed money on time. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/20-debt-and-jobs/9/) — "Credit-challenged" (US) means having bad credit. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/20-debt-and-jobs/10/) — "Negative cash flow" means spending more money than comes in. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/20-debt-and-jobs/11/) — "Cash flow problem" often means having no money to pay the bills. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/20-debt-and-jobs/12/) — "Let go" means fired. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/20-debt-and-jobs/14/) — "Rightsizing" is spin for cutting jobs. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/20-debt-and-jobs/15/) — "Restructuring" means reorganising a company, usually with job cuts. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/20-debt-and-jobs/16/) — "Streamlining" means cutting jobs or services. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/20-debt-and-jobs/17/) — "Made redundant" (UK) means losing your job because the post was cut. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/20-debt-and-jobs/18/) — "Laid off" (US) means dismissed from work because there is not enough work. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/20-debt-and-jobs/19/) — "Furloughed" means sent home from work for a period, often unpaid. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/20-debt-and-jobs/20/) — "Involuntary separation" (official US) means being fired. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/20-debt-and-jobs/21/) — "Pursuing other opportunities" in a company announcement usually means fired or pushed to quit. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/20-debt-and-jobs/22/) — "To spend more time with family" is often the official reason given when someone is forced to resign. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/20-debt-and-jobs/23/) — "Between jobs" means unemployed. - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/20-debt-and-jobs/24/) — "In transition" means unemployed or changing jobs. - ← previous: [Soft words for hard things: money and poverty](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/19-money-and-poverty/) - next →: [Soft words for hard things: work, firing and the economy](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/21-work-firing-and-the-economy/) - ↑ back to [Euphemisms](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/)