ese expressions may seem
very dreadful to more refined people, but their use really comes from
the same desire to be indulgent which leads more educated people to
use euphemisms to cover up as far as possible the faults of their
friends.

Again, misfortunes which come not from outside happenings but from
some defect in a person's mind and body are often the subject of
euphemisms. In Scotland a person who is quite an imbecile will be
described as an "innocent"--a milder way of saying the same thing.
_Insane_ and _crazy_ were originally euphemisms for _mad_, but now
have come to be equally unpleasant descriptions. So for _drunken_ the
euphemism _intemperate_ came to be used, but is now hardly a more
polite description. We would not willingly speak of a person being
"fat" in his presence. If it is necessary to touch on the subject, the
word "stout" is more favoured. In the absence of the fat person the
humorous euphemism may be used by which he or she is said to "have a
good deal of _embonpoint_."

Many words are euphemisms in themselves, just as many words are
complete metaphors in themselves. The word _ill_ means literally
"uncomfortable," but has come to have a much more serious meaning.
_Disease_ means literally "not being at ease," but the sense in which
we use it describes something much more serious than the literal
meaning. The word _ruin_ is literally merely a "falling."

One result of words being used euphemistically is that they often
cease to have their milder original meaning, and cease therefore to
seem euphemistic at all. _Vile_, which now means everything that is
bad, is in its literal and earlier use merely "cheap." _Base_, which
has the meaning of unutterable meanness, is literally merely "low."
_Mercenary_ is not exactly a complimentary description now. It means
that a person thinks far too much of money, but originally it merely
meant "serving for pay," a thing which most men are obliged to do.
_Transgression_ is generally used now to describe some rather serious
offence, but it literally means only a "stepping across." The "step"
which it describes being, however, in the wrong direction, the word
has come to have a more and more serious meaning. The study of
euphemisms can teach us much about men's thoughts and manners in the
past and the present.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE MORAL OF THESE STORIES.

Most stories have a moral. At least grown-up people have a habit of
tacking a little lesson on t