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And it is quite cute how civilised throwing someone out of a window sounds once there is a sophisticated word for it :D

My fave word for something that sounds innocuous but is actually severe is: vivisection.

If you didn't look up, it almost sounds like something you might casually get at a spa.

"My friends spent the summer waterboarding at Guantanamo Bay."

Knowing more than one language can be really helpful to just grok these words quickly, even if you've never seen them before.

alive is vivente, viviente, vivant and vida in italian, spanish, french and portuguese

If you know what a dissection is, you can then connect the dots.

Quidquid Latine dictum sit altum videtur.

My favorite:

Et situs vi late in isset ab ernit

("dialect" form of "Es sieht aus wie Latein, ist es aber nicht", "It looks like latin, but it isn't")