The coronavirus has mostly been dealt with in an upfront, honest and open-handed manner, but as it is with anything that takes over the world, a few worrisome euphemisms have crept into our Covid-19 vocabulary.

A euphemism is a word all dressed up in disguised finery to make it look like something much less offensive than what it really is. Mutton dressed as lamb, as my mother might say when looking at a picture of Edith Venter.

The word euphemism comes from the Greek euphemismos, which the Online Etymology Dictionary defines as the “use of a favourable word in place of an inauspicious one” or “superstitious avoidance of words of ill-omen during religious ceremonies”...