nice-Nellyism
nounEtymology From nice Nelly + -ism.
1
Usually Prudishness or excessive modesty.
2
A euphemism; an act or expression of prudishness or excessive modesty.
- He was a co-founder of the Indianapolis Chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous. ¶ His obituary in the Indianapolis Star said that he himself was not an alcoholic. ¶ This denial was at least partly a nice-Nellyism from the past, I think.1976, Kurt Vonnegut, Slapstick, Delacorte Press, Prologue, p. 8: