LIGHTER SIDE OF BUSINESS

The use of euphemisms--people aren’t poor, they are “economically disadvantaged”--is usually thought of as an art perfected by government, especially the military.

But the business world ain’t no slouch when it comes to coining words and phrases to make the commonplace spectacular, the wrong right or the obvious obscure.

Take the case of the vanished executive, whose employment, according to a corporate proxy statement, was “terminated by the board of directors” after the executive was found to have violated a bunch of investment rules established by the board--violations that cost the company a bundle of money.

The company insisted that having one’s employment terminated by the board wasn’t the same as being fired.

Then there is the recent Irvine Co. press release that talked about the imminent departure of a longtime executive who was leaving to go into private business.

The executive, according to the release, “intends to transition out of a full-time relationship with the company. . . .”

A long-winded way of saying that he was retiring but would be retained as a part-time consultant.