Possible Clues:

• Indirect expression
• Polite term
• Left for dead, for example
• Inoffensive term used in place of one considered offensive
• A rhetorical device, to put it mildly
• Seems as if raising the hem in here is a polite way of putting it
• A bit of indirect speech? That's nicer to hear
• 'The inflated style is itself a kind of -' (Orwell)
• MEP? Use him to spread an inoffensive word
• Milder substitute word