Yep.  It&#x27;s a general pattern: <i>any</i> term for &quot;termination of employment&quot; goes through the euphemism treadmill much, much faster than any other word or than we expect it to.<p>It used to feel like there was a distinction between being laid off (can&#x27;t afford you anymore, have to scale down) vs being fired (you messed up and they don&#x27;t want you anymore at any positive price).  But gradually I heard &quot;laid off&quot; get used to mean any firing for any reason.<p>And it makes sense: anyone is going to want to make their termination reason <i>sound</i> better for them, while retaining plausible deniability -- &quot;well, the word is ambiguous anyway&quot;. Plus, it&#x27;s a sensitive topic where people don&#x27;t want to reveal details of the reasons about third parties. So, expect any term for any termination reason get applied to broader and broader cases, to the point of absurdity.<p>&quot;He was made redundant after groping the secretary.&quot;<p>&quot;He was retired after they lost their major customer.&quot; But he&#x27;s 35! &quot;So?&quot;<p>&quot;She was downsized after using illegal accounting practices for the 15th time.&quot;<p>&quot;The junior partner was let go after appearing drunk at a client presentation.&quot; (Note:&quot;let go&quot; can be a meaningful distinction in a case where leaving might have major penalties for the leaving employee but the managing partners waive those penalties.)