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" Tired and emotional" is a euphemism for drunk, used in the British press to avoid libel laws. It was coined by Private Eye [3] after a BBC report [4] which used the term in describing 1960s Labour Party Cabinet minister and Deputy Leader Lord George-Brown, who was an alcoholic. It first appeared in a parody memo supposedly informing civil ...
The Sunday Times wrote that "George Brown drunk is a better man than Harold Wilson sober", and The Independent said "Brown became a bit of a figure of fun, and, thanks to Private Eye 's favourite euphemism for his regular condition, he bequeathed the English language the expression 'tired and emotional'."
"Seeing pink elephants" is a euphemism for hallucinations caused by delirium tremens or alcoholic hallucinosis, especially the former. The term dates back to at least the early 20th century, emerging from earlier idioms about seeing snakes and other creatures.
A euphemism (/ ˈ juː f ə m ɪ z əm / YOO-fə-miz-əm) is an innocuous word or expression used in place of one that is deemed offensive or suggests something unpleasant. [1] Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the user wishes to downplay.
Spain: After the triumph of Francisco Franco, filete imperial ("imperial beef") became a euphemism for filete ruso ("Russian beef"), "ensaladilla nacional" ("national salad") for "ensaladilla rusa" (Russian salad) and Caperucita Encarnada ("Little Red Riding Hood") for Caperucita Roja (which has the same meaning but loses its hypothetical ...
whereas "crack on" may be used in a generalised sense as "[to] get on with [something]" (often, a task), to "crack on to [some person, specifically]" indicates one was, or planned to, engage in flirtation, to varying degrees crikey (dated) exclamation of surprise (once a euphemism for Christ's keys or perhaps Christ Kill Me).
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many figurative senses derived from baseball, e.g. off one's base (crazy), to get to first base (esp. in neg. constr., to get a first important result); more recently (slang), a metaphor for one of three different stages in making out (q.v.) – see baseball metaphors for sex; more s.v. home run: bash