The word εὔφημος (Euphemos) is like a pack of Araldite in that it comes in two parts. 'Eu' generally is signifier that something is good and 'phemos' is the report about something. In various Greek texts 'euphemos' means anything from the mere the utterance of good or auspicious words, such as a good report, or praise; to the crystallisation of the quality onto something or someone who is then said to be either very important and/or delicate or something that needs protected at all costs.
The English reception of Greek words, particles, and components, is somewhat problematic. Consider 'euphemism' (good report) which generally means a nicer word standing in for a bad thing; or 'eugenics' (good genes) which has included policies of sterilisation and extermination of people; or 'euthanasia' (good death) which implies a calm method of either assisted suicide or veiled murder.
The word euphemism which means a good word standing in for a bad word, also can describe a whole line of things which have stood in for the previous word in the euphemism chain; so much so that 'Eu' has itself come to stand in at the beginning of words for concepts which are unpleasant. I want you to throw all of your existing cultural assumptions about 'Eu' away because euphemos is actually genuinely good.
The thing which most people consider as admirable are generally those products of moral formation which have been expensive to produce. One doesn't usually think about things like bravery and valour, patience and long-suffering, or perseverance and determination, as being things which are made and produced but they don't just appear from nowhere. Those qualities which we tend to see in other people and maybe ourselves which are worth celebrating, are generally the result of some kind of serious work in quiet places. Sometimes these qualities are forged and work-hardened as the result of someone moving through bad and hard times. I do not think it a coincidence that the trente-glorieuses immediately followed a twice unpleasantness and the destruction of a hundred million people.
Bravery and valour are the qualities of facing a dangerous or scary thing and then steeling one's self to do some task or work in the face of that dangerous or scary thing. We hand out medals for valour on the battlefield, where the dangerous and scary thing is the possibility of sudden and imminent death in the face of the enemy but bravery is very often not rewarded nor visible. Bravery might entail acting calmly in the face of unfriendliness which results in racism, sexism, ableism et cetera. Bravery might entail overcoming one's fear of performing a task in the face of physical danger or in the face of loss of face. It has been said that if given the job of performing a eulogy at a funeral, that most people would prefer to be in the casket than standing on the podium.
Qualities to do with standing in the face of unpleasantness, such as something which is boring, or tiring, or difficult; which leads to the moral products of patience, longsuffering, calmness, levelheadedness et cetera, are also all aspects of euphemos.
It is the quiet and unheralded things such as going above and beyond what's expected, or offering to take on additional duties and tasks to free up someone else, or simply as an act of kindness, are often expensive in time and effort to the person doing those things. Whether it is by offering an extra hand when you know that someone is overburdened and laid down with work, or uplifting them and making them look better, then this is when euphemos plays out in practice.
When it comes to doing work, the art of euphemos is also important. One can speak about the skill and talent which someone wields in doing a job and also the craftsmanship of that job once completed. This used to be more evident in the manual arts, such as painting, woodworking, cabinetry, pottery and ceramics, needlework and tapestry, and is positively celebrated on the sporting field when sportsball players, runners, swimmers, motor racing drivers et cetera, perform feats of skill. The "beautiful game" is not called that accidentally, for compared with the other football codes such as the two rugbys which are pugilistic, there is an amazing amount of skill in placing a well directed cross from out on the wing, onto the head of a striker at 17 yards away and having them defeat a keeper. We do not appreciate this now but Olympic medals were awarded in the past for things like sculpture, painting, and weirdly to us, town planning.
Euphemos can also involve knowing how to say something which is useful but with tact. Sometimes an opinion is extremely valuable and indeed necessary but should be offered appropriately and kindly and not bluntly or with rudeness or meanness; even though someone should rightly be told that they are doing a really silly thing in a really silly way.
By the same token, refraining from complaining about things and handling feelings of negativity in a much more constructive manner, is far more useful. Granted that life and work is often stupid, obnoxious and daft and filled with stupid, obnoxious and daft, which includes those most stupid, obnoxious and daft of all people, you and I.
Complaining is perhaps unjustly maligned as being a toxic behaviour, which can inhibit people from raising serious objections to things but serial complainers don't exactly develop the most kindly of reputations as they tend to bring everyone else down and ruin positive environments. It might be helpful to stop, get a cup of tea and come back to a thing before developing solutions or taking a different outlook.
Generally those things which display euphemos are those things which are deserving of respect and approval. None of those things just spontaneously happen and are the result of quiet work, practice, and maybe even repeated failure; which ironically is itself a display of euphemos as repeated failure and finally being able to achieve or do a thing is the result of hard work and an outworking of determination.
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