Euphemistic Language and the ‘N Word’

There are two kinds of euphemistic language. The first is poetic and representative: instead of using the precise word, you’re conveying a deeper, more poignant truth via your rhetorical flourish. For example, after the Challenger disaster, President Reagan didn’t just say that the rocket blew up and everyone is dead; he said, “We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and ‘slipped the surly bonds of earth’ to ‘touch the face of God.’”