--- title: Soft words for hard things: crime, prison and the police — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Soft words for hard things: crime, prison and the police», a lesson of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Prison, crime and police violence are hard things, so people find softer words for them. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/27-crime-prison-and-police/) [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: crime, pri… # Soft words for hard things: crime, prison and the police Lesson 27 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/27-crime-prison-and-police/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/27-crime-prison-and-police/0/) — Prison, crime and police violence are hard things, so people find softer words for them. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/27-crime-prison-and-police/2/) — Ordinary people use slang and jokes instead: someone in prison is "inside" or "doing time", and a thief has "sticky fingers". - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/27-crime-prison-and-police/3/) — A vivid example: shops call stolen goods "shrinkage", as if the stock just got smaller by itself. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/27-crime-prison-and-police/4/) — When you hear such words, ask: who is in prison, who stole, who used force, and who is being protected by the soft word? - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/27-crime-prison-and-police/5/) — "Correctional facility" is the US official word for a prison. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/27-crime-prison-and-police/6/) — "Correctional officer" is the US official word for a prison guard. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/27-crime-prison-and-police/7/) — "Detained at His Majesty's pleasure" is a British official phrase for being held in prison for an indefinite time, with no end date fixed in advance. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/27-crime-prison-and-police/8/) — "Guest of His Majesty" is a British joke for a prisoner. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/27-crime-prison-and-police/9/) — "Doing time" means serving a prison sentence. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/27-crime-prison-and-police/10/) — "Inside" is British everyday talk for in prison. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/27-crime-prison-and-police/11/) — "Away" can mean in prison, as in "Her dad's away for a while". - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/27-crime-prison-and-police/12/) — "Up the river" is an old US phrase for in prison. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/27-crime-prison-and-police/13/) — "Helping police with their inquiries" is a British phrase for being questioned as a suspect (a person the police think may have done the crime). - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/27-crime-prison-and-police/14/) — "Person of interest" is the US official phrase for a suspect. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/27-crime-prison-and-police/15/) — "Known to police" means a person has a criminal record (a police list of crimes they were found guilty of). - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/27-crime-prison-and-police/16/) — "Administrative segregation" is the US official phrase for solitary confinement (keeping a prisoner alone in a cell, away from everyone, as a punishment). - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/27-crime-prison-and-police/17/) — "Protective custody" means keeping a prisoner alone for their own safety. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/27-crime-prison-and-police/18/) — "Use of force" is the official phrase for violence by police. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/27-crime-prison-and-police/19/) — "Officer-involved shooting" is a US official phrase meaning police shot someone. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/27-crime-prison-and-police/20/) — "Less-lethal weapon" means a weapon meant not to kill, such as a rubber bullet, which can still kill. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/27-crime-prison-and-police/21/) — "Justice-involved" is a US official phrase for having a criminal record or past contact with the courts. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/27-crime-prison-and-police/22/) — "Sticky fingers" means a habit of stealing. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/27-crime-prison-and-police/23/) — "Five-finger discount" is a US joke for shoplifting. - ← previous: [Soft words for hard things: war, the military and violence](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/26-war-and-the-military/) - next →: [Soft words for hard things: crime, prison and the police and lying and honesty](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/28-stealing-and-lying/) - ↑ back to [Euphemisms](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/)