The article discusses the Norwegian linguists' treatment of the replacement of the initial /p/ by /t/ in the word pisse ‘to piss’ as euphemistic, resulting in the reduction of the negative value of this word and making possible its usage in a neutral functional style. This minor issue has been brought up to attention in Norwegian society to a case of linguistic expertise in court. The article offers a different view of the mechanism of this phenomenon from that expressed by Norwegian linguists.