Зministry of higher and secondary

rich: wealthy, well-to-do, well-off
poor: economically disadvantaged, needy, in need
unemployed: out of work, between jobs
to fire: to lay off, to let (someone) go, to terminate, to downsize, to restructure
to quit: to resign, to leave the company
pay: salary, compensation, compensation plan
boss: supervisor, manager
secretary: administrative assistant, personal assistant
janitor/custodian: maintenance worker
fat: heavyset
elderly/old person: senior citizen, senior, pensioner, retiree
problem: issue
worried: concerned
used: pre-owned
lie: fabrication
to lie: to fabricate
to owe money: to have an outstanding payment
cheap (person): frugal, thrifty
There are words in every language which people instinctively avoid because they are considered indecent, indelicate, rude, too direct, or impolite. Euphemizing generally exists in almost every nation all over the world, no matter how civilized it is. In all natural languages both large families of languages and languages of minorities using euphemism is a common phenomenon. Nearly all cultures seem to have certain notions or things that people try to avoid mentioning directly, which means using euphemisms in order to avoid painful, offensive or unpleasant words. Thus, universality, which is something that is well - known and accepted by all the people, is one of the characteristics of euphemisms. Another feature of euphemisms is localization. Euphemistic function is fulfilled by means of lexical substitutions and especially through discursive euphemistic strategies as discussed below.⁸ Lexical substitution is, generally speaking, an effective way to mitigate the pejorative overtones of words considered too blunt or offensive in a given context. Clearly, euphemism responds to the desire to avoid certain taboos that can negatively affect conventional norms of tact as well as the speaker and addressee’s social images. This is the case in the allusion to certain taboo concepts deemed unfit for polite conversation, such as sexual organs and sexual play, scatological concepts or ethnic differences. In this way, the substitution of the terms ‘fuck’, ‘shit’ and ‘nigger’ for ‘copulate’, ‘defecate’ and ‘colored’ respectively is a means of showing respect and deference, not only towards the subject matter, but also towards the interlocutor.⁹