--- title: Olympiad: the euphemism detective ★★★ — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Olympiad: the euphemism detective ★★★», a lesson of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: In an olympiad puzzle about soft words you are a detective: first turn every soft phrase into plain words, then use the plain mea --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/41-olympiad-euphemism-detective/) [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/) / Olympiad: the euphemism detective ★★★ # Olympiad: the euphemism detective ★★★ Lesson 41 of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school: 22 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/41-olympiad-euphemism-detective/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/41-olympiad-euphemism-detective/0/) — In an olympiad puzzle about soft words you are a detective: first turn every soft phrase into plain words, then use the plain meanings for the next step of the puzzle. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/41-olympiad-euphemism-detective/1/) — Many puzzles are odd-one-out: three phrases share one plain meaning and the fourth does not, and you must name it and say why. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/41-olympiad-euphemism-detective/2/) — Watch for traps: the same word can mean different things ("bit the dust" is a death for a villain but a breakdown for a car, "lost" can mean died, went mad or mislaid), and the scene tells you which. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/41-olympiad-euphemism-detective/3/) — Some puzzles count: how many people in a story are still alive, how many really drank, and only the plain meanings are counted, never a hyperbole like "a million times". - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/41-olympiad-euphemism-detective/4/) — Picture Gran saying "Uncle Bob's popped his clogs, Auntie May's no spring chicken": Bob has died, but May is only old, so she still counts among the living. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/41-olympiad-euphemism-detective/6/) — "Popped his clogs", "snuffed it", "brown bread" and "cashed in his chips" all mean died; they are joking or slangy. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/41-olympiad-euphemism-detective/7/) — "Getting on", "no spring chicken" and "past his prime" mean old, not dead. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/41-olympiad-euphemism-detective/8/) — "Laid up" means ill or injured in bed, not dead; "laid to rest" means buried. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/41-olympiad-euphemism-detective/9/) — "Put to sleep" means an animal was killed gently by a vet; "crossed the rainbow bridge" means a pet died. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/41-olympiad-euphemism-detective/10/) — "Fixed" (US) and "seen to" (UK) mean a pet had an operation so it cannot have babies; "rehomed" means given to new owners. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/41-olympiad-euphemism-detective/12/) — "Spend a penny", "powder my nose" and "freshen up" can all mean go to the toilet. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/41-olympiad-euphemism-detective/13/) — "Let go", "shown the door", "laid off" and "relieved of his duties" all mean lost a job; "relieved of his duties" is official, "shown the door" is everyday talk. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/41-olympiad-euphemism-detective/14/) — "Telling porkies", "economical with the truth" and "bending the truth" mean lying; "pulling your leg" means fooling you as a friendly joke. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/41-olympiad-euphemism-detective/15/) — "Drat", "blast", "sugar", "fudge" and "darn" are mild stand-ins for swear words. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/41-olympiad-euphemism-detective/16/) — "Gosh", "gee", "jeepers", "cripes" and "for Pete's sake" are mild stand-ins for holy names: God, Jesus and Christ. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/41-olympiad-euphemism-detective/17/) — "Merry" and "squiffy" mean a little drunk; "blotto" and "three sheets to the wind" mean very drunk; "had a few" means has drunk enough to be drunk. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/41-olympiad-euphemism-detective/18/) — "A bit dim", "not the sharpest tool in the shed" and "no Einstein" mean not clever; "off one's rocker" and "round the twist" mean mad. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/41-olympiad-euphemism-detective/19/) — "Inside", "up the river" and "guest of His Majesty" all mean in prison; "under the influence" means drunk or on drugs. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/41-olympiad-euphemism-detective/20/) — Rhyming slang swaps a word for a phrase that rhymes with it: "brown bread" means dead because "bread" rhymes with "dead", and "porkies" comes from "porky pies", which rhymes with "lies". - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/41-olympiad-euphemism-detective/21/) — "The late" before a name means the person has died, so "the late Mr Jones" can never come to next week's party. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/41-olympiad-euphemism-detective/22/) — "Lost her husband" means he died; "lost the plot" and "lost his marbles" mean went mad or got very confused. - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/41-olympiad-euphemism-detective/24/) — A white lie is a small kind lie to spare feelings, such as praising a present you do not like. - ← previous: [Soft words for hard things: rudeness and swearing](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/40-with-all-due-respect/) - next →: [Olympiad: reading between the lines ★★★](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/42-olympiad-reading-between-the-lines/) - ↑ back to [Euphemisms](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/)