Having been caught out for publishing plagiarized novels (http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/oct/28/prolific-romantic-fiction-writer-exposed-as-a-plagiarist?CMP=share_btn_fb ), Laura Harner used the “M” word euphemism.
‘Responding to the Guardian in a statement, Harner said she realised she had “made mistakes”. “I own them, and I will deal with the consequences. In transforming two M/F romance stories into an M/M genre, it appears that I may have crossed the line and violated my own code of ethics,” she wrote.’ (Ibid).
I’ve written about this before. (http://blog.ericsinfotech.com/2015/02/12/more-mistakes-about-mistake-haslem-farmer-and-the-browns/ and http://blog.ericsinfotech.com/tag/marc-hauser/ .
George Orwell was right: “Euphemism is to the brain as novacain is to the gum.” By calling is a ‘mistake’ rather than saying ‘I chose to do something bad’ we exercise a form of moral denial.
See the mark hauser post for the full argument.
I won’t get into the philosophical problems with saying “it appears I may [emph added] have crossed the line” and with her reference to “my own code of ethics.”