--- title: Soft words for hard things: work, firing and the economy and business and advertising — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Soft words for hard things: work, firing and the economy and business and advertising», a lesson of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Job titles and adverts are full of soft words, because people want their work to --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents/) [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: work, firi… # Soft words for hard things: work, firing and the economy and business and advertising Lesson 22 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/22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents/0/) — Job titles and adverts are full of soft words, because people want their work to sound grand and sellers want their goods to sound better than they are. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents/1/) — Some are jokes ("domestic engineer" for someone who runs the home), some are polite, and many are sales spin. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents/3/) — Shops do it too: a "pre-owned" car is simply a used car, and a "price adjustment" is nearly always a price rise. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents/4/) — The trick is to turn each soft word back into the plain one and see what is left. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents/5/) — "Domestic engineer" is a joking name for a housewife, househusband or homemaker. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents/6/) — "Associate" often means an ordinary, low-paid employee, especially in US shops. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents/7/) — "Underemployed" means working fewer hours than you want, or in a job below your skills. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents/8/) — "Jobseeker" means an unemployed person (UK official language). - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents/9/) — "Economically inactive" means not working and not looking for work (UK official language). - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents/10/) — "On the bench" means a consultant (a hired expert who works on projects for other firms) has no project to work on. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents/11/) — "A career-limiting move" is a joking name for a mistake that could get you fired. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents/12/) — "Efficiency gains" often means fewer staff doing the same work. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents/13/) — "Pre-owned" means used. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents/14/) — "Pre-loved" means second-hand (mostly UK). - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents/15/) — "Vintage" can simply mean old and used. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents/16/) — "Fun-size" means small, as in a small chocolate bar. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents/17/) — "Cosy" in a house advert means very small. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents/18/) — "Compact" means small. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents/19/) — "Bijou" in a house advert means tiny (mostly UK). - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents/20/) — "Deceptively spacious" in a house advert usually means small (mostly UK). - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents/21/) — "Up-and-coming area" usually means a poor or run-down neighbourhood. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents/22/) — "Needs some TLC" ("tender loving care") means a place is in bad condition and needs repairs. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents/23/) — "Full of character" in a house advert often means old and needing repairs. - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/22-jobs-shops-and-estate-agents/24/) — "Price adjustment" usually means a price increase. - ← previous: [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/) - next →: [Soft words for hard things: business and advertising and politics and government spin](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/23-fees-bugs-and-spin/) - ↑ back to [Euphemisms](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/)