This is a book of word histories, highlighting the deintensification of the disgusting, the generalisation of the ribald, the mutation of the offensive, and occasionally sensationalising of the innocent. What sensitivities are you secretly offending when you use such words as poppycock, bonfire, and porcelain? What political incorrectness are you courting when you use such words as lampoon, sinister, or flamingo? Who have you insulted, what sensitivity have you jostled, what breach of propriety have you committed when you use such remarkably innocent words as butterfly, gymnasium, and fizzle? This title addresses such topics, uncovering previous meanings of words that would - if those meanings were blatantly apparent today - offend the sensitive, discomfit the squeamish, and irk the politically correct....