It is seen as exceptionally important to be on polite terms with the people you intend to kill.
The man with the torch complied, although not asked in the most polite terms.
Players spoke in polite, reverential terms about a man most of them did not actually know very well.
Less, perhaps, because it was never a matter of interest to me even when I was on polite terms with my father.
"That's the more polite term for those of you from Recluce."
In polite terms, he repeats it at the meeting: the precinct must increase the pressure, particularly on 129th Street.
They were unaccustomed to being addressed in such polite terms.
"It will give you what is known in polite terms as gastrointestinal distress."
Could that possibly be a polite term for crazy?
I said, "Maybe there's a more polite term for the journals.