A suspicious trend
Euphemisms have a way of creeping into the language and staying put. They are words that substitute an inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant. Thus, a person is no longer a jerk; he has a personality deficit.
“Suspect” must be too offensive a word for those under suspicion of crimes, because police now prefer to use “a person of interest” instead.
State police were searching earlier this week for the husband of a Avella woman shot to death Tuesday in Jefferson Township, noting he threatened the victim’s life before and was believed to be armed and dangerous. Yet, they refused to call him a “suspect.”
We suppose if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck we should call it a web-footed aquatic avian.