Trope-a-Day: Unusual Euphemism
Unusual Euphemism: Eldraeic, by and large, is not a language given to a great deal of euphemism. Circumlocution, yes, but not so much euphemism, as its principal speakers prefer their straight talk to be straight. For example, polite society has no problem with people just saying straight out:
valdar sessqár (“We had sex”)
On the other hand, one can get many of the same overtones by playing around with tense words and affixes. For example, playing around with the “noble” tense and the augmentative affix could produce the following:
valdar chal sessqár
(“We made love”, in a more romantic/poetic sense)
valdar lin-sessqár
(perhaps best translated “We engaged in rampant shagging”, emphasizing the happy-fun activity)
Or even both at once:
valdar chal lin-sessqár
(suitable for describing, say, one’s honeymoon, creative translations capturing both of these senses simultaneously are left as an exercise for the reader)
As a final note, the Eldraeic verb meaning “to have sex” is a mutual verb, that requires a set of at least two members as a subject and takes no object; in these examples, valdar (“we”) literally means “I-and-you”. In one case of not-really-a-euphemism, it is entirely possible that the Eldraeic verb meaning “to masturbate” is actually also sessqár, merely applied to the set of “I-and-nobody”.