Haze

As mentioned under smog the pleasant-sounding word haze is used often to indicate air pollution. The editors of Word! feel compelled to make a correction in calling haze a euphemism of smog. Haze can, indeed, be caused by smoke particles. It can also be caused by dust or water or anything in the atmosphere that "obscures the normal clarity of the sky" (Wikipedia: Haze). We apologize for the error, but still feel that "haze" is used as a way of making pollution sound somehow pleasant. Haze comes from the Old English haswa which means "dusky."