Back in the 1980s while working on a public participation project for a clean-water agency involving land application of what we now call biosolids, I invited a state regulatory official to speak at a meeting of our citizens' advisory committee.
During the phone call, I told him various alternate names this agency was trying out as replacements for "sludge," which was then the only term available. His response: "Call a spade a spade, or I won't come and speak."
In a way, I still respect his position: As a writer I have never liked
