But there are interesting forces at work other than just political correctness.
Once a euphemism becomes accepted its primary meaning changes to the shameful thing for which it has come to stand, the taboo, if it be strong enough, tends to be transferred. The gooseflesh reappears. And some fresh, innocent victim-word has to be sacrificed on the altar of propriety ...
There are in fact whole chains of euphemism, like privy, toilet, loo. The Language Log provides a fascinating example of this in the delicate area of American race relations.
"I am disinclined to take lectures on racial sensitivity from a group that insists on calling black people, 'Colored,' " Mark Williams, national spokesman of the Tea Party Express, told CNN. [Speaking of the NAACP]
And so the wheel turns.
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