--- title: Soft words for hard things: politics and government spin — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Soft words for hard things: politics and government spin», a lesson of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Governments must explain hard choices, such as cuts, wars and camps, to the people, and soft words make those --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/24-government-spin/) [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: politics a… # Soft words for hard things: politics and government spin Lesson 24 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/24-government-spin/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/24-government-spin/0/) — Governments must explain hard choices, such as cuts, wars and camps, to the people, and soft words make those choices easier to swallow. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/24-government-spin/1/) — Sometimes the soft word is fair and polite; often it is spin that hides who did what, and to whom. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/24-government-spin/2/) — "Mistakes were made" is the classic example: it admits something went wrong but never says who made the mistakes. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/24-government-spin/3/) — Some words hide terrible things: governments have called prison camps "vocational training centres". - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/24-government-spin/4/) — Ask of every official phrase: who is doing what, to whom, and what would the plain word be? - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/24-government-spin/5/) — "Mistakes were made" means we did wrong, but we will not say who. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/24-government-spin/6/) — "Plausible deniability" means an arrangement that lets leaders deny they knew about something. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/24-government-spin/7/) — "Regime change" means overthrowing (forcing out) a foreign government. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/24-government-spin/8/) — "Nation-building" means occupying a country (moving in with soldiers and taking control) and remaking its government. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/24-government-spin/9/) — "Public diplomacy" can mean government propaganda aimed at foreigners: one-sided messages made to get people to think well of a country. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/24-government-spin/10/) — "Fiscal consolidation" means cuts in public spending and tax rises. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/24-government-spin/11/) — "Austerity measures" means cuts in public spending. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/24-government-spin/12/) — "Efficiency savings" means budget cuts (UK). - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/24-government-spin/13/) — "Entitlement reform" means cutting pensions and welfare (US). - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/24-government-spin/14/) — "Tax relief" means a tax cut. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/24-government-spin/15/) — "Investment" in a politician's mouth often just means government spending. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/24-government-spin/17/) — "Undocumented immigrant" means an immigrant living without legal permission (US, polite). - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/24-government-spin/18/) — "Internally displaced person" means someone forced from home who is still inside their own country. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/24-government-spin/19/) — "Vocational training centre" (vocational means about learning a job) has been used as a name for an internment camp, a camp where people are locked up without a fair trial. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/24-government-spin/20/) — "Re-education" means forced political indoctrination: people are made to repeat and accept the government's ideas, often in camps. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/24-government-spin/21/) — "Population transfer" means forcing people out of their homes and moving them elsewhere. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/24-government-spin/22/) — "A full and frank exchange of views" means a serious argument. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/24-government-spin/23/) — "Constructive talks" often means talks that reached no agreement. - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/24-government-spin/24/) — "We are reviewing our options" often means we have not decided anything. - ← previous: [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/) - next →: [Soft words for hard things: politics and government spin and war, the military and violence](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/25-spin-war-and-violence/) - ↑ back to [Euphemisms](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/)