Re: The question is...
The way that euphemisms themselves turn into rude words is something else.
English euphemisms can be weird even if they don't subsequently become as rude or objectionable as the original word.
As a child I was puzzled when told that babies were found under gooseberry bushes. Since we had a gooseberry bush in the garden and I'd never found a baby under it, nor did I ever expect to do so, I couldn't imagine why anybody would say such a stupid thing.
It was several decades later before I learned that "gooseberry bush" was 19th-century slang for pubic hair. Then again, the sole "authority" I can find for that is a columnist in The Telegraph, so it might be wrong. Either way, "babies are found under gooseberry bushes" is a weird thing to say to a child, but if The Torygraph has it right then at least there's a logical explanation behind it.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
