This article investigates the names that the Shona-speaking people in contemporary Zimbabwe create and use in casual communication on the Acquired Immunity Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS), the messages transmitted through these names and the ethical motivation for preferring these names to the English term HlV/AIDS. We refer to the Shona names as indirection verbal strategies that take the form of euphemisms, metaphors, colloquial expressions and slang. However, the motivation for preferring an indirect communication mode is best understood in the context of the notion of politeness that govern human interaction and speech on issues pertaining to sex, illiess and death in Shona society.
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