--- title: Soft words for hard things: lying and honesty and drinking and drugs — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Soft words for hard things: lying and honesty and drinking and drugs», a lesson of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Calling someone a liar or a drunk is rude, so people reach for softer words. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/29-lying-and-drinking/) [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: lying and… # Soft words for hard things: lying and honesty and drinking and drugs Lesson 29 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/29-lying-and-drinking/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/29-lying-and-drinking/0/) — Calling someone a liar or a drunk is rude, so people reach for softer words. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/29-lying-and-drinking/1/) — Officials say a claim was "not entirely accurate" instead of "false"; businesses "massage the numbers" instead of faking them. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/29-lying-and-drinking/2/) — For drinking, people joke or are polite: someone is "merry", "tipsy" or has had "one too many" instead of being plainly drunk. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/29-lying-and-drinking/3/) — A famous British example: newspapers wrote that a politician was "tired and emotional" when they meant he was drunk and could not say so. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/29-lying-and-drinking/4/) — Some of these words are kind or just funny, like "pulling your leg", but many hide a real lie or a real problem. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/29-lying-and-drinking/5/) — "Not entirely accurate" is a polite way to say false. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/29-lying-and-drinking/6/) — "Less than candid" is an official way to say dishonest; "candid" means open and honest. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/29-lying-and-drinking/7/) — "Shading the truth" means lying slightly. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/29-lying-and-drinking/8/) — A "misstatement" is an official word for a lie or false claim. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/29-lying-and-drinking/10/) — To "embroider" a story means to add invented details to it. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/29-lying-and-drinking/11/) — To "spin a yarn" means to tell an invented story. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/29-lying-and-drinking/12/) — "Bending the truth" means lying. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/29-lying-and-drinking/13/) — "Being diplomatic" means not saying what you really think, to avoid hurting or angering someone. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/29-lying-and-drinking/14/) — "Pulling your leg" means lying to you as a joke. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/29-lying-and-drinking/15/) — "Massaging the numbers" means changing data so it looks better than it really is. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/29-lying-and-drinking/16/) — A "fish story" is a US phrase for an exaggerated or invented claim. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/29-lying-and-drinking/17/) — "Tired and emotional" is a British joke meaning drunk. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/29-lying-and-drinking/18/) — "Merry" in Britain means slightly drunk. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/29-lying-and-drinking/19/) — "Tipsy" means slightly drunk. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/29-lying-and-drinking/20/) — "Had a few" means has drunk enough alcohol to be drunk. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/29-lying-and-drinking/21/) — "One too many" means drunk, having had more alcohol than one should. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/29-lying-and-drinking/22/) — "Over the limit" means too drunk to drive by law. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/29-lying-and-drinking/23/) — "Well-oiled" is slang for drunk. - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/29-lying-and-drinking/24/) — "Three sheets to the wind" is an old phrase for very drunk. - ← previous: [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/) - next →: [Soft words for hard things: drinking and drugs](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/30-drinking-and-drugs/) - ↑ back to [Euphemisms](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/)