ongressman Mark Sanford has returned to frontline politics after ensuring "hiking the Appalachian Trail" became a euphemism for infidelity. What other scandals have enriched the lexicon?

1. "Hiking the Appalachian Trail" When South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford disappeared for six days in 2009, his aides told reporters he had gone for a walking holiday along the US's most celebrated hiking route. In fact, it soon transpired Sanford had been with his Argentine mistress in Buenos Aires. The phrase quickly ignited the imaginations of the press corps. "I think we should start using 'hiking the Appalachian trail' for discussions of future political scandale, don't you?", suggested commentator Andrew Sullivan. The subsequent popularity of the phrase did not prevent Sanford winning election to the House of Representatives, where he is due to be sworn in.

2. "Discussing Uganda" In 1973, the satirical magazine Private Eye reported that journalist Mary Kenny had been disturbed in the arms of a former cabinet minister of President Obote of Uganda during a party. Variations of "Ugandan discussions" or "discussing Uganda" - the term is believed to have been coined by the poet James Fenton - were subsequently used by the Eye to describe any illicit encounter, and the phrase soon became part of common usage.

3. "Didn't inhale" The political career of Bill Clinton has been far from unencumbered by scandal - not least when he attempted to redefine "sexual relations". But perhaps his greatest linguistic legacy came during his campaign for the presidency when he admitted he had smoked marijuana but "didn't inhale". Almost immediately, the verb "to inhale" was deployed on campuses everywhere in place of "to get high". Even Clinton's successor-but-one got in on the act. "The point was to inhale," Barack Obama told reporters in 2008, admitting his own youthful drug use. "That was the point."

4. "Tired and emotional" In 1957 The Spectator lost a libel trial brought by three Labour politicians whom it accused of having been drunk. Intoxication being difficult to prove retrospectively in court without a blood sample, British journalists cast around for an alternative phrase. The result, at first, tended to be associated with Labour's deputy leader George Brown. Some sources suggest the phrase was first coined by Brown's agent, Edward Eldred, when making excuses for his erratic boss. But it was popularised when Brown made a televised tribute after President John F Kennedy's assassination while visibly inebriated. A press release the following day described his condition as "tired and emotional" - a form of words adopted by Private Eye and others in their wake.

5. "Final user" The carnivalesque private life of Silvio Berlusconi introduced a bemused world to the notion of "bunga bunga". An escort named Patrizia D'Addario, who said she slept with the former Italian prime minister at a party, extended his linguistic legacy. The politician's lawyer Niccolo Ghedini denied the claims - and said because D'Addario said Berlusconi had not personally hired or paid her he would have been the "utilizzatore finale" or "final user" of her services, and thus was not criminally liable. Despite Ghedini's protestations of his client's innocence, the phrase has become a euphemism for men who use prostitutes.

6. "Economical with the truth" A term with a habit of surfacing during politically-charged legal cases. UK Cabinet Secretary Robert Armstrong used the phrase in a Sydney court in 1986, when the British government took legal action in Australia to try to stop the publication of Spycatcher, the memoirs of a former MI5 agent. A few years later, former minister Alan Clark admitted he had been "economical... with the actualite" during the Matrix Churchill trial in 1992. Armstrong later wrote a letter to the Times newspaper in which he said he derived the phrase from 18th Century statesman Edmund Burke.

7. "Wide stance" - Idaho senator Larry Craig was arrested for lewd conduct in an airport toilet during a police sting operation. The arrest report stated that Craig claimed his foot had touched that of an undercover officer in an adjacent cubicle "because he has a wide stance when going to the bathroom". Craig plead guilty to a lesser charge of disorderly conduct but, when the case became public, protested his innocence and denied he was gay. Although Craig may not have actually used the term himself, "wide stance" was swiftly seized upon by comedians and slang dictionaries.

"Mis-speak" In 2008, Hillary Clinton claimed to have been pinned down by sniper fire while on a trip to Bosnia. When video footage suggested otherwise, she went in front of the cameras and admitted: "I did mis-speak the other day." At the time, lexicographer Tony Thorne predicted in the Magazine that in future the term "will probably only be used ironically or mockingly". It had, however, previously been used by Republican candidate John McCain and the staffs of Presidents George W Bush and Ronald Reagan.

9. "Watching badgers" Ron Davies had already experienced what he called a "moment of madness" on London's Clapham Common in 1998, during which he was mugged. The incident led to his resignation as Welsh Secretary. Then in 2003 The Sun newspaper claimed it had photographed him engaging in a sex act with a stranger at a picnic spot. After initially denying he had ever visited the area, Davies then changed his story and said he had been there "watching badgers", a phrase that the tabloid suggested should find its way into the Oxford English Dictionary.

10. "Slipping my moorings" Innuendo travels quickly in the age of social media. No sooner had former CIA chief David Petraeus apologised in March 2013 for "slipping my moorings" by having an affair with his biographer, the Sunday Times' Camilla Long tweeted: "Best euphemism for illicit sex so far today."

 kronk wrote:
I say "Mission Accomplished" after every time I "drill baby, drill."

Magazine feature about some well-known euphemisms got readers thinking about some of their favourites. Here is a selection.

1. "Spending more time with the family" is used as a general statement by politicians who have been forced to resign because of some low-level scandal they don't wish to admit / comment on. Neil, Chessington, Surrey

2. Surely it has to be Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction". Lucy Wijsveld, Croydon

3. The phrase "circling over Shannon" briefly became a euphemism in Ireland for trying desperately to sober up before an important event, after an incident where Boris Yeltsin was too "tired and emotional" to get off a plane at Shannon Airport to meet Albert Reynolds. John O'Dwyer, London, UK

4. "Sometimes..... I park my car in the wrong driveway" Roger Stirling's apology to Don Draper [in US drama Mad Men] for being highly flirtatious with Don's wife while drunk. Barry, Guildford

5. @BBCNewsMagazine A mum in Devon once told her child that a bull mounting a nearby cow was actually "looking at Lundy" [an island in the Bristol Channel] #euphemism @pstni

My very old grandmother would use the expression that he or she was "light on his/her feet" . As a child I believed that this referred to the terpsichorean skills of a person. In later life I learned that she was referring to their sexual ambiguity. Still used among family and friends. Denis Price, Beverley, East Yorks

7. "Extreme Rendition" A term coined by our "allies" to cover the illegal transportation of foreign nationals (possibly "terrorists") across international borders, illegally. Martin Lindridge, St Albans, UK

8. @BBCNewsMagazine Love "Speaking on the big white Telephone" for being violently unwell (another #euphemism!) @paulbelmontesli

9. Unfavourite euphemism. "Passed away" or "Lost" as in "I lost my husband". People do neither of these things. They DIE. Margaret Taylor, Iver, Bucks

10. In the 70s a lot of LSD seemed to be produced in or around Lincoln and it was common when asking what someone was doing at the weekend to have them reply "I am going to Lincoln" meaning they were going to be dropping acid. Bee Wyeth, London

11. @BBCNewsMagazine Intensely convivial = drunkard. #euphemism @ajhill_alan

12. In an article in the Seattle Times about a couple who seemed to like doing it a lot, it was referred to "Going to Tukwila". David Lilly, Seattle, US

13. A huge generalisation I know, but anything that was hush hush, was a little suspicious or was offered as a reason for absence was "Oh, I had/have to see a man about a dog." Bob, UK

14. One of my favourite euphemisms, "Shaking hands with a friend of the wife" or rather, to take a short trip to the bathroom. Nigel Ward, Cwmbran

15. My family inheritance is a nice line of tall stories, mainly due to my ancestors being a mix of pioneers who travelled to America, Canada and Africa through the centuries. These fables get bigger and bigger with telling and are now bound up in one big catchphrase "They paddled up the Mohawk River!" If my mother is paddling up the Mohawk River, it means she is telling a story, which might have roots in the truth but has now spun out of control and is bordering on fantasy. Sophie, Highlands

16. I believe the late [British broadcaster] Ned Sherrin used to say that he had "lunched well", meaning he had overindulged in a local hostelry. Bob Rushworth, Hitchin, Herts

17. My favourite is the phrase "operative statement" which a Nixon White House press secretary used to describe any of those statements he made which were actually true. False statements were dubbed "inoperative", much to the disbelief and amusement of the Washington press corps. Mark Bradby, Minneapolis, US

18. "Likes their Wagner" So much more polite way of describing a member of the aristocracy who thought that the Nazis were a breath of fresh air in European politics. Allan Henderson, Glasgow, Scotland

19. "No stranger to Greggs" = fat. Jen Bainbridge, Leeds, West Yorks

20. "A full day Keith" Used by a friend's mother when talking to others about what she and her husband had done. "We have had a full day Keith". Now used by all the family and friends to describe a busy day. Subsequently a revised version has been adopted to describe a busy morning or afternoon. A half day Hilda. Hilda is Keith's wife. Robert, Scarborough

IronWarLeg wrote:

 kronk wrote:
I say "Mission Accomplished" after every time I "drill baby, drill."

I thought "Mission Accomplished" was just something you say when its not quite finished but you just don't want to talk about it anymore..

 Easy E wrote:
Huh, I had never heard of "Discussing Uganda" before.

Perhaps that is more of a UK-centric one.

"Ugandan discussions", or a variation thereof, is often used as a euphemism for sex, usually while carrying out a supposedly official duty. The term originally referred to an incident at a party hosted by journalist Neal Ascherson and his first wife, at which fellow journalist Mary Kenny had a "meaningful confrontation" with a former cabinet minister in the government of Milton Obote, later claiming that they were "upstairs discussing Uganda". The poet James Fenton apparently coined the term.[1] The saying is often wrongly attributed to the antics of a female Cabinet minister in Idi Amin's government, who was caught having sex in a public lavatory at Heathrow Airport. The euphemism has variations: for example, before his marriage a senior member of the Royal family allegedly went on holiday with an aging ex-Page Three girl, whereupon Private Eye reported he had contracted a "Ugandan virus". In 1996, "Getting back to basics" was suggested as a replacement euphemism after the policy of the same name adopted by John Major's government, which some Private Eye contributors regarded as hypocritical.