--- title: Soft words for hard things: age and looks and weight — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Soft words for hard things: age and looks and weight», a lesson of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: People are sensitive about how they look: wrinkles, baldness, being short or not pretty, or getting forgetful with --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/9-age-looks-and-size/) [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: age and lo… # Soft words for hard things: age and looks and weight Lesson 9 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/9-age-looks-and-size/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/9-age-looks-and-size/0/) — People are sensitive about how they look: wrinkles, baldness, being short or not pretty, or getting forgetful with age. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/9-age-looks-and-size/1/) — Kind words soften the truth: wrinkles become "laughter lines" and a balding man is "thinning on top". - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/9-age-looks-and-size/2/) — Jokes do it too, but jokes can sting: "a face for radio" says someone is ugly, because on radio nobody sees your face. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/9-age-looks-and-size/3/) — Vivid example: a friend says the new boy "has a nice personality" — that sounds like praise, but often it is a sly way to say he is not good-looking. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/9-age-looks-and-size/4/) — Shops and officials use soft words as well: "plus-size" clothes, "petite" sizes, "assisted living" and "older adults". - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/9-age-looks-and-size/5/) — "Well-preserved" is a cheeky way to say someone is old but still looks good. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/9-age-looks-and-size/7/) — "A senior moment" is a joking name for a moment of forgetting, blamed on getting old. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/9-age-looks-and-size/8/) — "A retirement community" is a housing estate built for old people. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/9-age-looks-and-size/9/) — "Assisted living" is an American name for a care home where old people get help with daily life. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/9-age-looks-and-size/10/) — "Laughter lines" is a kind name for wrinkles around the eyes and mouth. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/9-age-looks-and-size/11/) — "Thinning on top" is a polite way to say going bald. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/9-age-looks-and-size/12/) — "Follically challenged" is a joking way to say bald; follicles are the tiny holes hairs grow from. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/9-age-looks-and-size/13/) — "Vertically challenged" is a joking way to say short. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/9-age-looks-and-size/14/) — "Homely" in American English means plain or not pretty; in British English it means cosy and home-like. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/9-age-looks-and-size/15/) — "Plain" said about a person's looks means not attractive. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/9-age-looks-and-size/16/) — "A face for radio" is a joking, unkind way to say someone is ugly. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/9-age-looks-and-size/17/) — "Has a nice personality" is often a sly way to say someone is not attractive. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/9-age-looks-and-size/18/) — "Distinguished" said of an older man often means grey-haired or older-looking, in a good way. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/9-age-looks-and-size/19/) — "Had some work done" means had cosmetic surgery, operations on the face or body that change how a person looks. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/9-age-looks-and-size/20/) — "Past his prime" means he is no longer young or at his best. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/9-age-looks-and-size/22/) — "Older adult" is the official term for an old person. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/9-age-looks-and-size/23/) — "Full-figured" is a polite way to say a woman is fat or large. - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/9-age-looks-and-size/24/) — "Plus-size" means large clothing sizes, for people who are fat. - ← previous: [Soft words for hard things: the toilet and bodily functions and age and looks](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/8-toilets-and-getting-older/) - next →: [Soft words for hard things: weight and pregnancy and birth](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/10-weight-and-babies/) - ↑ back to [Euphemisms](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/)