No no no! Please, leave the English language alone. It's enough that people insist on saying phrases like "totes my goats", can't we leave the proper names for animals alone?
Carpet squirrels sound dirty, but in a sexual way. And @13, Waterbugs and Cockroaches are both different types of roaches, so the differentiation isn't entirely newspeak.
The last thing any language needs is any modification just to make unpleasant things sound a little less so.
Some examples:
Sarah Palins baby is retarded!
The bombing raid in Iraq resulted in civilian casualties!
I like 'toy capybaras' for rats and 'sky quail' for pigeons. we have a problem with deer overpopulation, they could be called 'long-legged disney rats.'
@16-you know, I didn't actually know people called cockroaches that (I only knew of the bitey ones that live in the water), but a quick Google search and their you go. It came from someone I grew up with in Seattle that has since moved to Brooklyn. I thought he was just glossing things over.
"rats" is so mellifluous that charlie-brown uses it as a swear word
@10 - Fluffy and Jitters?
Let's compromise and call them hamsters.
Little hamsters, big adventures!
junkies = thrill-cravers
Some examples:
Sarah Palins baby is retarded!
The bombing raid in Iraq resulted in civilian casualties!
No, no
homeless people = urban outdoorsman