Just been working out how this thread led to the Wikipedia
euphemism treadmill page
UK censuses are taken in the "one" years, having started in 1801. One-dered (sorry!) about the year I was born - 1941. Check
Wikipedia; no census taken (people were too busy dodging bombs or sleeping in Tube stations!). Turns out the returns for the previous census, 1931, were destroyed in an accident in 1942, so we have a gap from 1921 to 1951.
So why the euphemism page? Well, as the years went by, some words became unacceptable - in 1871 it was required that you list any resident who was...
QUOTE
...an imbecile, idiot or lunatic (note that such usage of terms predates euphemistic definitions; see
euphemism treadmill).
So thanks *very* much Kris - that's another hour of my life gone
