#libfix

The current penchant for attaching “-moji” to words has a faint historical echo in Japan. Beginning in the 14th century, women of the Japanese imperial court developed a kind of euphemistic language called “nyobo kotoba.” For many terms, especially those for food or clothing, the women would add “-moji” to a word’s opening syllable – for instance, referring to sushi as “su-moji,” roughly equivalent to calling it “the ‘su’ word.”