Pygmalion word

English

Etymology

From the 1913 George Bernard Shaw play Pygmalion, which included the line "not bloody likely" – at that point, the word "bloody" was considered scandalous. See also not Pygmalion likely.

Noun

Pygmalion word (plural Pygmalion words)

  1. (UK, euphemistic, obsolete) The word bloody.
    • 1918, Julian Walker, Words and the First World War: Language, Memory, Vocabulary, Bloomsbury Publishing, published 2005, →ISBN, page 117:
      As soon as men re-entered the company of women adjustments were made; Emma Duffin reported that one of her charges 'used the 'Pygmalion' word to me' (bloody), but she made him apologise.
    • 1960 April 28, The Times:
      Sheridan was speaking about the council fleecing tenants and used a pygmalion word.
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