Euphemisms, like bedbugs and zombies, never strike when you expect them; they're always lurking under a pillow or zombie master that seemed so harmless.

So imagine my delight when, right here in the pages of Visual Thesaurus, I read about one of the most delicious, audacious, egregious, preposterous euphemisms of my lifetime or yours — frozen popsicle as a synonym for homework.

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Mark Peters is a language columnist, lexicographer, and collector of fanciful words. His book Yada, Yada, Doh! chronicles words and phrases that made the leap from television to everyday speech. He contributes to Verbatim, Good, and OUPblog, and he also blogs regularly at Wordlustitude, The Rosa Parks of Blogs, and The Pancake Proverbs. You can also follow Mark on Twitter. Click here to read more articles by Mark Peters.