collateral damage for civilian casualties
second-hand for used
pre-owned for second-hand
pre-loved for pre-owned
budget for cheap
pass (away) for die
sanitation worker for garbage collector/janitor
convivial for drunken
The opposite of euphemism is dysphemism.
dysphemism (DIS-fuh-miz-em) noun
ReplyDeleteThe substitution of a harsher, deprecating or offensive term in place of a relatively neutral term.
[From Greek dys- (bad) + -phemism (as in euphemism).]
"There are lots of epithets for people like this - Grammar Nazis, Usage Nerds, Syntax Snobs, the Language Police. The term I was raised with is SNOOT. The word might be slightly self-mocking, but those other terms are outright dysphemisms. A SNOOT can be defined as somebody who knows what dysphemism means and doesn't mind letting you know it."
David Foster Wallace, Tense Present: Democracy, English, And the Wars Over Usage, Harper's Magazine (New York), Apr 2001.