Министерство Образования и Науки Республики Казахстан
Республиканское государственное казенное предприятие
Восточно-Казахстанский государственный университет
им. С. Аманжолова
Филологический Факультет
Кафедра английского языка
Дипломная работа
на тему: semantic and stylistic aspect of euphemisms in modern english
Научный руководитель:
Старший преподаватель Г. Г. Сейлкумарова
«___» ________ 200_г.
Зав.кафедрой английского языка,
к.ф.н, доцент С.С.Нуркенова
«___» ________ 200_г.
Выполнил(-а) студент(-ка)
Группы 4В №404 Л. Х. Акатаева
«___» ________ 200_г.
Нормоконтролер Т. А. Васильева
«___» ________ 200_г.
Усть-Каменогорск, 2009
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 3
1 LINGUISTIC ASPECT OF EUPHEMISMS IN MODERN ENGLISH 7
1.1 Conceptual world view behind euphemisms 7
1.2 Definition and function of euphemisms 8
1.3 The evolution of euphemisms 11
1.4 The etymology of euphemisms 13
1.5 Taboos and euphemisms 15
2 SEMANTIC WORD BEHIND EUPHEMISMS 17
2.1 Classification of euphemisms on the semantic principle 17
3 EUPHEMISMS AS EXPRESSIVE MEANS AND STYLISTIC DEVICE IN MODERN ENGLISH 34
3.1 Feelings and emotions caused by the process of euphemistic mapping 34
3.2 Interaction of emotions and ethnic culture in euphemisms 36
3.3 Cognitive structure of source and target domains in the process of new euphemistic nominations 38
3.4 Differences of euphemistic projection in image schemes and newly
nominated euphemisms 40
3.5 Psychological aspect of studying euphemisms and dysphemisms 42
CONCLUSION 45
BYBLIOGRAPHY 48
APPENDIX A – Glossary of euphemisms 52
APPENDIX B - General classification of euphemisms and dysphemisms from psychological point of view 58
APPENDIX C- Classification of euphemisms according to the thematical
subdivision 60
6
INTRODUCTION
Euphemisms for the majority of people is the device to create humorous situation. most can get along without them in everyday life, but they are found everywhere not only in emotive prose but also in the publicistic style, in highly emotional speech, in extreme cases to lessen the impact of the situation on the people making it sound milder. Our conceptual system plays a central role in defining our everyday realities. The perception may be global or local. Global world view is presented by philosophical, scientific, religious world views. Local world view is presented through sociological, informational, physical, artistic world views. Conceptual world view is very rich, it covers a lot of things. It contains different communicative types of thinking, verbal and nonverbal. As the language is the spirit of the people speaking it, we may state that the inner forms of the language and the conceptual world view behind the language is realized through languages. Any language forms the world view behind the language and at the same time it reflects world other views. The most important sphere of a man’s world and his personality is the sphere of emotions. It is the sphere of psychology and emotive evaluations. Our emotional world is one of the local world views behind the language. The act of cognition is emotionally coloured. Emotions cover all our spheres of life. The objective world is endless, but a man is limited in the process of cognition. Any world view contains personal subjective cognition. Thus we speak of personal, subjective interpretation of the objective world. A man reacts to the outer and inner pressure by different states of activities: perception, expressing wishes, points of view, speaking, and physical activities.
Any euphemisms may be defined as a substitution of an agreeable or less offensive expression in place of the one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant to the listener. It makes expression less troublesome for the speaker. Anthropocentric nature of euphemisms is well-known. Our universal emotions are characterized by national peculiarities. The following linguists as Kacev A. M., Keith Allan, Kate Burridge, Obvinceva O. V., Neuman and Sibker investigated euphemisms as linguistic and unique phenomena of the language in comparative linguistics, stylistics, euphemisms in publicistic style , pragmatic aspect of euphemisms and their stylistic aspect.
Our investigation is based on the interaction of psychology, linguistics and stylistics. We analyzed not only euphemistic mapping in our conceptual system, but also their impact on the listener.
The object of our investigation is euphemisms as semantic and stylistic phenomenon in the English language.
The subject of study is emotive prose in the English language (British and American literature).
The aims of the paper are the following:
1. to systematize euphemisms on the semantic principle;
2. to describe the interaction of emotions and ethnic culture in euphemisms;
3. to investigate, cognate structure of source and target domain in newly-nominated euphemisms;
4. to investigate psychological aspect of euphemistic mapping.
To achieve these aims we set the following tasks:
1. to observe scientific literature on the interaction of psychology, linguistics and stylistics;
2. to define theoretical grounds of euphemistic mapping;
3. to describe our conceptual system through euphemisms;
4. to examine the procedure of the formation of euphemisms.
The novelty of our investigation lies in the new approach of the cognition of the conceptual world view behind the language through euphemisms.
The actuality of the paper is defined by the necessity to study the nature of euphemistic mapping from source domain to target domain.
The practical value of the paper consists of the application of the results of the investigation in the course of stylistics, text interpretation, theory and practice of translation.
The following methods have been applied:
1. descriptive;
2. comparative analysis of literature on stylistics, phraseology, semaseology, psycholinguistics;
3. analysis of euphemistic, stylistic projections in the English literature.
The materials of our study are:
1. examples from classical English literature;
2. Russian – English dictionaries.
Approbation of the paper was reported at the Scientific Conference held at the East – Kazakhstan State University in April, 2009.
Our hypothesis is that the notion of euphemistic mapping can be referred not only to the sphere stylistic devices, but it can be accepted as a universal means of the cognition of the world. Euphemisms intercepted from different sources underwent thorough linguistic and stylistic analysis.
The first part presents theoretical backgrounds of euphemistic mapping: the origin, evolution, etymology, taboos and euphemisms. Euphemisms being defined as a linguistic phenomenon have direct reference to stylistics where it is defined as a stylistic means.
The second part contains the information about semantic world behind euphemisms. Classifications of euphemisms on the semantic principle.
The third part is devoted to stylistic analysis of new nominated euphemisms, their pejorative coloring. Different feelings and emotions are involved into the process of euphemistic mapping. The description of the procedure of the formation of euphemisms is closely connected with the psychological aspect of their study.
We came to the conclusion that euphemistic mapping is found in all spheres of our life. Euphemisms, which are meant to soften the impact of the pressure of the situation on the speaker, call immediately a line of synonyms from which we choose the world with pejorative coloring.
They may be used to denote the feeling of fear, shame, odium.
The opposition to euphemisms there are so-called dysphemisms, the words which are used to aggravate the situation to make it more offensive. These words become dominating in the English vocabulary. Their negative connotations make people narrow their local world view up to dominating negative impression over positive ones.
Our hypothesis was justified. It is really a universal means of the cognition of the objective global world. With euphemisms we connect very positive emotions that make our life easier and happier.
1 LINGUISTIC ASPECT OF EUPHEMISMS IN MODERN ENGLISH
1.1 Conceptual world view behind euphemisms
World view is the result of spiritual world of man, his reconsideration of the objective world values. The world image comes to a human being in the process of perception, evaluation, understanding inner spiritual work. It is possible to build up a typology of language and conceptual world views. It only depends on the fact that who the subject of perception is: an adult or a child. The object of perception may be global or local world view. Global world view is presented by philosophical, scientific, religious world views. Local world view is presented by sociological, informational, physical, artistic world views. Scientific world view isn’t stable; its present state is the ideal state of the present characteristic of the stage of scientific development and achievements. It changes historically with the change of paradigm of knowledge.
Conceptual world view is very rich; it covers a lot of things. It contains and consists of different communicative types of thinking, verbal and nonverbal things. It goes back to Humboldt’s philosophy of the essence of the language. According to Humboldt, any language is the spirit of the people speaking it. This probably is based on the fact that the inner forms of the language and the conceptual world view behind the language are connected and realized through the language. Language participates in two processes:
1. It forms the world view behind the language;
2. It reflects and expresses other world views.
Language is a complicated thing. It is variable, changeable, unstable, but it contains some stable elements contributing to a better understanding among people.
The most important sphere of a man’s and a woman’s personality is the sphere of emotions. It is the sphere of psychology and emotive evaluations. Emotional world of a man is one of the local world views behind the language. The act of cognition is emotionally colored. Emotions cover all spheres of human activities. They are very important when we speak of a human’s factor in the language. The picture of the world isn’t only the world view behind the language, but first of all, it is the subjective world view of the real world created in the head of a man.
The objective world is endless, but a man is limited in the process of cognition. Any world view behind the language contains personal subjective cognition of the world. That is why we speak of personal, subjective interpretation of the objective world. The language world view may be investigated in two aspects:
1. Static;
2. Dynamic
The first presents the world view behind the language as the result of the process that has already taken place. The second approach helps to understand how the world view behind the language is formed with the help of different language means. A man is a dynamic active human being. He fulfills three different types of actions: physical, intellectual, speaking. A man reacts to the outer and the inner pressure which may be found in different states of activities: perception, expressing wishes, points of view, emotions and feelings. Every type of activity, states of mood, reactions are governed by certain systems located in the organs of a human body, which reacts to the outer pressure.
1.2 Definition and function of euphemisms
A euphemism is a substitution of an agreeable or less offensive expression in place of one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant to the listener, or in the case of doublespeak, to make it less troublesome for the speaker.[citation needed] It also may be a substitution of a description of something or someone rather than the name, to avoid revealing secret, holy, or sacred names to the uninitiated, or to obscure the identity of the subject of a conversation from potential eavesdroppers. Some euphemisms are intended to be funny.
Euphemism, as is known, is a word or phrase used to replace an unpleasant word or expression by a conventionally more acceptable one, for example, the word 'to die' has bred the following euphemisms: to pass away, to expire, to be no more, to depart, to join the majority, to be gone, and the more facetious ones: to kick the bucket, to give up the ghost. So euphemisms are synonyms which aim at producing a deliberately mild effect. Euphemism is sometimes figuratively called "a whitewashing device". The linguistic peculiarity of euphemism lies in the fact that every euphemism must call up a definite synonym in the mind of the reader or listener.
Many euphemisms are so delightfully ridiculous that everyone laughs at them. (Well, almost everyone: The people who call themselves the National Selected Morticians usually manage to keep from smiling. ) Yet euphemisms have very serious reasons for being. They conceal the things people fear the most—death, the dead, the supernatural. They cover up the facts of life—of sex and reproduction and excretion—which inevitably remind even the most refined people that they are made of clay, or worse. They are beloved by individuals and institutions (governments, especially) who are anxious to present only the handsomest possible images of themselves to the world. And they are embedded so deeply in our language that few of us, even those who pride themselves on being plainspoken, ever get through a day without using them.
The same sophisticates who look down their noses at little boys' room and other euphemisms of that ilk will nevertheless say that they are going to the bathroom when no bath is intended,- that Mary has been sleeping around even though she has been getting precious little shut-eye,- that John has passed away or even departed (as if he'd just made the last train to Darien),- and that Sam and Janet are friends, which sounds a lot better than "illicit lovers."
Thus, euphemisms are society's basic lingua non franca. As such, they are outward and visible signs of our inward anxieties, conflicts, fears, and shames. They are like radioactive isotopes. By tracing them, it is possible to see what has been (and is) going on in our language, our minds, and our culture.
A euphemism is the substitution of an inoffensive expression, or one with favorable associations, for an expression that may offend because of its disagreeable associations.
Pass away is a euphemism for die , put (animals) to sleep for kill , perspire for sweat, nurse for suckle, agent for spy, dentures for false teeth .
Euphemisms are particularly common for the process of reproduction and excretion and for activities, people, and bodily parts involved in those processes. People vary in what they consider to be offensive, and toleration for blunt language also varies from period to period. A euphemism may eventually acquire unpleasant associations and give way to later euphemisms: toilet and lavatory , themselves euphemisms, are frequently replaced by othe euphemisms, such as cloakroom.
Euphemisms can be used legitimately for politeness and tact, but they are dishonest when they are used to avoid facing unpleasant activities or to conceal and deceive. Dishonest uses are frequent in political and military language: Hitler's plan for the extermination of the Jews was called the final solution, protective custody has been used for imprisonment, industrial action for strikes, police action for war and armed reconnaissance for bombing [1, p.61].
When a phrase is used as a euphemism, it often becomes a metaphor whose literal meaning is dropped. Euphemisms may be used to hide unpleasant or disturbing ideas, even when the literal term for them is not necessarily offensive. This type of euphemism is used in public relations and politics, where it is sometimes called doublespeak. Sometimes, using euphemisms is equated to politeness. There are also superstitious euphemisms, based (consciously or subconsciously) on the idea that words have the power to bring bad fortune (for example, not speaking the word "cancer"; see etymology and common examples below), and there are religious euphemisms, based on the idea that some words are sacred, or that some words are spiritually imperiling (taboo; see etymology and religious euphemisms below).
Euphemisms are words we use to soften the reality of what we are communicating to a given listener or reader. They are a universal feature of language usage; all cultures typically use them to talk about things they find terrifying (e.g., war, sickness, death) because, anthropologically, "to speak a name was to evoke the divinity whose power then had to be confronted" [10, p. 69-75]. Similarly, we use euphemisms to express taboos, as we feel, on some instinctual level, that the euphemism keeps us at safe distance from the taboo itself. Another use of euphemisms is to elevate the status of something (e.g., using educator for teacher, attorney for lawyer); but in general, we use euphemisms to express what is socially difficult to express in direct terms.
1.3 The evolution of euphemisms
Euphemisms may be formed in a number of ways. Periphrasis or circumlocution is one of the most common — to "speak around" a given word, implying it without saying it. Over time, circumlocutions become recognized as established euphemisms for particular words or ideas.
To alter the pronunciation or spelling of a taboo word (such as a swear word) to form a euphemism is known as taboo deformation. There is an astonishing number of taboo deformations in English, of which many refer to the infamous four-letter words. In American English, words which are unacceptable on television, such as fuck, may be represented by deformations such as freak — even in children's cartoons. Some examples of Cockney rhyming slang may serve the same purpose — to call a person a berk sounds less offensive than to call him a cunt, though berk is short for Berkeley Hunt which rhymes with cunt.
Bureaucracies such as the military and large corporations frequently spawn euphemisms of a more deliberate (and to some, more sinister) nature. Organizations coin doublespeak expressions to describe objectionable actions in terms that seem neutral or inoffensive. For example, a term used in the past for contamination by radioactive isotopes is Sunshine units.
Military organizations kill people, sometimes deliberately and sometimes by mistake; in doublespeak, the first may be called neutralizing the target and the second collateral damage. Violent destruction of non-state enemies may be referred to as pacification. Two common terms when a soldier is accidentally killed (buys the farm) by their own side are friendly fire or blue on blue (BOBbing) — "buy the farm" has its own interesting history.
Execution is an established euphemism referring to the act of putting a person to death, with or without judicial process. It originally referred to the execution, i.e., the carrying out, of a death warrant, which is an authorization to a sheriff, prison warden, or other official to put a named person to death. In legal usage, execution can still refer to the carrying out of other types of orders; for example, in U.S. legal usage, a writ of execution is a direction to enforce a civil money judgment by seizing property. Likewise, lethal injection itself may be considered a euphemism for putting the convict to death by poisoning.
Abortion originally meant premature birth, and came to mean birth before viability. The term "abort" was extended to mean any kind of premature ending, such as aborting the launch of a rocket. Euphemisms have developed around the original meaning. Abortion, by itself, came to mean induced abortion or elective abortion exclusively. Hence the parallel term spontaneous abortion, an "act of nature", was dropped in favor of the more neutral-sound miscarriage [37, p. 137].
Industrial unpleasantness such as pollution may be toned down to outgassing or runoff — descriptions of physical processes rather than their damaging consequences. Some of this may simply be the application of precise technical terminology in the place of popular usage, but beyond precision, the advantage of technical terminology may be its lack of emotional undertones and the likelihood the general public (at least initially) will not recognize it for what it really is; the disadvantage being the lack of real-life context. Terms like "waste" and "wastewater" are also avoided in favor of terms such as byproduct, recycling, reclaimed water and effluent. In the oil industry, oil-based drilling muds were simply renamed organic phase drilling muds, where organic phase is a euphemism for "oil".
Latinate Roots of Euphemisms
A great number of euphemisms in English come from words with Latinate roots. Farb (1974) writes that after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066,
"…the community began to make a distinction between a genteel and an obscene vocabulary, between the Latinate words of the upper class and the lusty Anglo-Saxon of the lower. That is why a duchess perspired and expectorated and menstruated--while a kitchen maid sweated and spat and bled." [28, p. 46-49]
The linguistic differences between earthy, direct Anglo-Saxon words and elegant, often euphemistic Latinate words have been largely ignored in language learning, despite the fact that knowledge of these differences is essential to natural, native like use of English. Similarly, euphemisms themselves - Latinate or otherwise--have been ignored in language learning, even though they are usually semantically opaque to learners and continue to be invented and employed.
Below is a short glossary of common words with some of their current, popular euphemisms. (Some euphemisms, it will be seen, have become euphemized themselves.) Following the glossary is a lesson for learners at the intermediate level.
1.4 The etymology of euphemisms
The word euphemism comes from the Greek word euphemo, meaning "auspicious/good/fortunate speech/kind" which in turn is derived from the Greek root-words eu (ευ), "good/well" + pheme (φήμη) "speech/speaking". The eupheme was originally a word or phrase used in place of a religious word or phrase that should not be spoken aloud; etymologically, the eupheme is the opposite of the blaspheme (evil-speaking). The primary example of taboo words requiring the use of a euphemism are the unspeakable names for a deity, such as Persephone, Hecate, or Nemesis [24, p. 159]
Historical linguistics has revealed traces of taboo deformations in many languages. Several are known to have occurred in Indo-European languages, including the original Proto-Indo-European words for bear (*rtkos), wolf (*wlkwos), and deer (originally, hart; the deformation likely occurred to avoid confusion with heart). In different Indo-European languages, each of these words has a difficult etymology because of taboo deformations — a euphemism was substituted for the original, which no longer occurs in the language. An example is the Slavic root for bear — *medu-ed-, which means "honey eater". One example in English is "donkey" replacing the old Indo-European-derived word "ass". The word "dandelion" (lit., tooth of lion, referring to the shape of the leaves) is another example, being a substitute for pissenlit, meaning "wet the bed", a possible reference to the fact that dandelion was used as a diuretic [17, p. 46]
In some languages of the Pacific, using the name of a deceased chief is taboo. Amongst indigenous Australians, it is forbidden to use the name, image, or audio-visual recording of the deceased, so that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation now publishes a warning to indigenous Australians when using names, images or audio-visual recordings of people who have died.
Since people are often named after everyday things, this leads to the swift development of euphemisms. These languages have a very high rate of vocabulary change [3, p.167].
In a similar manner, classical Chinese texts were expected to avoid using characters contained within the name of the currently ruling emperor as a sign of respect. In these instances, the relevant ideographs were replaced by homophones. While this practice creates an additional wrinkle for anyone attempting to read or translate texts from the classical period, it does provide a fairly accurate means of dating the documents under consideration.
The common names of illicit drugs, and the plants used to obtain them, often undergo a process similar to taboo deformation, because new terms are devised in order to discuss them secretly in the presence of others. This process often occurs in English (e.g. speed or crank for meth). It occurs even more in Spanish, e.g. the deformation of names for cannabis: mota (lit., "something which moves" on the black market), replacing grifa (lit., "something coarse to the touch"), replacing marihuana (a female personal name, María Juana), replacing cañamo (the original Spanish name for the plant, derived from the Latin genus name Cannabis). All four of these names are still used in various parts of the Hispanophone world, although cañamo ironically has the least underworld connotation, and is often used to describe industrial hemp, or legitimate medically-prescribed cannabis [19, p. 107]
1.5 Taboos and euphemisms
Introduction euphemisms and dysphemisms is better to do with the defining terms "euphemism" and "dysphemism". "A euphemism is used as an alternative to a dispreferred expression, in order to avoid possible loss of face: either one's own face or, through giving offence, that of the audience, or some third party" [5, p. 41]. Euphemism is a word or an expression that people use instead of indecent, indelicate, rude, too direct or impolite words and expressions. The opposite sides of euphemisms are taboo words and dysphemisms. "A dysphemism is an expression with connotations that are offensive either about the denotatum or to the audience, or both, and it is substituted for a neutral or euphemistics expression for just that reason" [18, p. 76]. It is important to say that euphemisms are opposed with taboo words because of cause and effect relations. Dysphemisms are opposed with euphemisms because of the evaluation content basis. The function of dysphemisms is to aggravate a denotatum with any evaluation content at the expense of more negative one.
A dysphemism is a word or an expression that is generally used to offend somebody deliberately. It paints a negative picture without seemingly lying. For example the phrase "My boss is something else" doesn't carry something swearing bit it is slanted towards negativity.
What is actually considered to be euphemistic and what is considered to be dysphemistic depends on the speaker and the way he or she interprets the message. At the same time a euphemism may loose its ennobling characteristics and turn into a dysphemism and it is required to be replaced. For example, the word "black" was a euphemism for the word with a negative connotation "negro" [21, p. 60]. But the frequent using the word "black" as a euphemism had deleted its meaning and has transferred the word "black" to the category of the direct names.
The psychological aspect pays attention to "straight to the generating motives".
In lexicology the studying of euphemisms and dysphemisms from the psychological point of view is well-done. At present according to the generating motives there are five groups of euphemisms that have appeared because of: 1) superstition, 2) the feeling of fear, 3) sympathy and compassion, 4) the feeling of shame and, 5) the feeling of politeness.
To V. I. Zabotkina's opinion some pragmatic reasons are the base of the generating motives. At first, it is a politeness, which has defined the creation of euphemisms for physical and mental defects. Secondly, taboo words, when euphemisms were used instead of direct names of diseases and deaths. Thirdly, it's the influence the general readers. Fourthly, it's restricness, which has influenced the creation of euphemisms within the different social illegal groups [23, p.98-103].
According to А. M. Kacev's classification of generating motives there are three emotional spheres: fear, odium and shame [24, p. 68].
Linguists say these or those emotions are generating motives for the creation both euphemisms and dysphemisms. And perhaps the development of nominations with pejorative evaluation content was the base of making dysphemisms.
At present this kind of words gets into high level of vocabulary. Using words with negative meaning and invectives the speaker feels the magic influence that he or she is everything allowed. The domination of such words is a natural thing because people perceive negative sides of life more violent than positive ones. The latter is regarded as normal and that is why they are less emotive. Of course it is easier to hold somebody up to shame than to praise somebody to the skies.
The general classification of euphemisms and dysphemisms from the psychological point of view can be represented in a table.
2. SEMANTIC WORLD BEHIND EUPHEMISMS
2.1 Classification of euphemisms on the thematic principle
Many euphemisms fall into one or more of these categories:
Terms of foreign and/or technical origin (derrière, copulation, perspire, urinate, security breach, mierda de toro, prophylactic, feces occur, sheisst).
Abbreviations (SOB for son of a bitch, BS for bullshit, TS for tough shit, SOL for shit out of luck or PDQ for pretty damn(ed) quick. BFD for big fucking deal, STFU or STHU for shut the fuck/hell up, RTFM for read the fucking manual).
Abbreviations using a spelling alphabet, especially in military contexts (Charlie Foxtrot for "Cluster fuck", Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Oscar for "What the fuck, over?", Bravo Sierra for "bullshit" — See Military slang).
Plays on abbreviations (H-e-double hockey sticks for "hell", "a-double snakes" or "a-double-dollar-signs" for "ass", Sugar Honey Iced Tea for "shit", bee with an itch or witch with a capital B for "bitch", catch (or see) you next Tuesday (or Thursday) for "cunt").
Use in mostly clinical settings (PITA for "pain in the ass" patient).
Abbreviations for phrases that are not otherwise common (PEBKAC for "Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair", ID Ten T Error or ID-10T Error for "Idiot", TOBAS for "Take Out Back And Shoot") [6, p. 94].
Abstractions and ambiguities (it for excrement, the situation for pregnancy, going to the other side for death, do it or come together in reference a sexual act, tired and emotional for drunkenness.).
Indirections (behind, unmentionables, privates, live together, go to the bathroom, sleep together, sub-navel activities).
Mispronunciation (goldarnit, dadgummit, efing c (fucking cunt), freakin, be-atch,shoot — See minced oath).
Litotes or reserved understatement (not exactly thin for "fat", not completely truthful for "lied", not unlike cheating for "an instance of cheating").
Changing nouns to modifiers (makes her look slutty for "is a slut", right-wing element for "Right Wing").
Slang (for eg. pot for marijuana, laid for sex and so on).
There is some disagreement over whether certain terms are or are not euphemisms. For example, sometimes the phrase visually impaired is labeled as a politically correct euphemism for blind. However, visual impairment can be a broader term, including, for example, people who have partial sight in one eye, or even those with uncorrected poor vision, a group that would be excluded by the word blind [11, p. 65].
There are three antonyms of euphemism: dysphemism, cacophemism, and power word. The first can be either offensive or merely humorously deprecating with the second one generally used more often in the sense of something deliberately offensive. The last is used mainly in arguments to make a point seem more correct.
2.1.1 Religious euphemisms
Euphemisms for deities as well as for religious practices and artifacts date to the earliest of written records. Protection of sacred names, rituals, and concepts from the uninitiated has always given rise to euphemisms, whether it be for exclusion of outsiders or the retention of power among select practitioners. Examples from the Egyptians and every other western religion abound.
Euphemisms for God and Jesus, such as gosh and gee, are used by Christians to avoid taking the name of God in a vain oath, which would violate one of the Ten Commandments.
When praying, Jews will typically use the word "Adonai" ('my Lord'). However, when in a colloquial setting, this is deemed inappropriate among Jews, and so typically Jews replace the word "Adonai" with the word "HaShem", which literally means, "The Name". It is notable that "Adonai" is itself a word that refers to the Jewish God's name, יהוה or YHWH, the original pronunciation of which is unknown due to a lack of vowels. It was translated as Jehovah for some centuries, but scholars now agree that it was more likely Yahweh. Traditionally, Jews have seen the name of God as ineffable and thus one that must not be spoken. According to the Torah, when Moses saw the burning bush, he asked God, "who are you?" The answer he heard was, "I am that I am". Thus, Jews have for centuries thought that the name of the Almighty is ineffable, because according to their logic pronouncing it would be equivalent to calling oneself God [6, p. 86].
Euphemisms for hell, damnation, and the devil, on the other hand, are often used to avoid invoking the power of the adversary. The most famous in the latter category is the expression what the dickens and its variants, which does not refer to the famed British writer but instead was a popular euphemism for Satan in its time. In the Harry Potter books, the evil wizard Lord Voldemort is usually referred to as "He Who Must Not Be Named" or "You-Know-Who". However, the character Professor Dumbledore is quoted as saying in the first book of the series that "Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself".
2.1.2 Excretory euphemisms
While urinate and defecate are not euphemisms, they are used almost exclusively in a clinical sense. The basic Anglo-Saxon words for these functions, piss and shit, are considered vulgarities and unacceptable in general use, despite the use of piss in the King James Bible (in Isaiah 36:12 and elsewhere).
"Brown Material" Road.
The word manure, referring to animal feces used as fertilizer for plants, literally means "worked with the hands" (from the Latin: manus, manūs — "hand"), alluding to the mixing of manure with earth. Several zoos market the byproduct of elephants and other large herbivores as Zoo Doo or Zoopoop, and there is a brand of chicken manure available in garden stores under the name Cock-a-Doodle Doo. Also, a brand of sheep manure is called "Baa Baa Doo." Similarly, the abbreviation BS, or the word bull, often replaces the word bullshit in polite society. (The term bullshit itself generally means lies or nonsense, and not the literal "shit of a bull", making it a dysphemism).
There are any number of lengthier periphrases for excretion used to excuse oneself from company, such as to powder one's nose, to see a man about a dog (or horse), to drop the kids off at the pool or to release the chocolate hostages (these expressions could actually be regarded as dysphemisms). Slang expressions which are neither particularly euphemistic nor dysphemistic, such as take a leak, form a separate category [8, p. 29].
In some languages, various other sensitive subjects give rise to euphemisms and dysphemisms. In Spanish, one such subject is class and status. The word señorito is an example, although the euphemism treadmill has turned it to a disparagement, at least in Mexico.
2.1.3 Sexual euphemisms
The Latin term pudendum and the Greek term αιδοίον (aidoion) for the genitals literally mean "shameful thing". Groin, crotch, and loins refer to a larger region of the body, but are euphemistic when used to refer to the genitals. The word masturbate is derived from Latin, the word manus meaning hand and the word sturbare meaning to defile. In pornographic stories, the words rosebud and starfish are often used as euphemisms for anus, generally in the context of anal sex. The shock jock Howard Stern once promoted the euphemism "balloon knot" for the anus, referring to the external appearance of the skin surrounding the sphincter muscle.
Sexual intercourse was once a euphemism derived from the more general term intercourse by itself, which simply meant "meeting" but now is normally used as a synonym for the longer phrase, thus making the town of Intercourse, Pennsylvania, a subject of jokes in modern usage.
The "baseball metaphors for sex" are perhaps the most famous and widely-used set of polite euphemisms for sex and relationship behavior in the U.S. The metaphors encompass terms like "hitting it off" for a good start to relationship, "Striking out" for being unlucky with a love interest, and "running the bases" for progressing sexually in a relationship. The "bases" themselves, from first to third, stand for various levels of sexual activity from French kissing to "petting", itself a euphemism for manual genital stimulation, all of which is short of "scoring" or "coming home", sexual intercourse. "Hitting a home run" describes sex during the first date, "batting both ways" or "batting for the other team" describes bisexuality or homosexuality respectively, and "stealing bases" refers to initiating new levels of sexual contact without invitation. Baseball-related euphemisms also abound for the "equipment"; "Bat and balls" are a common reference to the male genitalia, while "glove" or "mitt" can refer to the female anatomy.
There are many euphemisms for birth control devices, sometimes even propagated by the manufacturers: Condoms are known as "rubbers", "sheaths", "love gloves", "diving suits", "raincoats", "Johnnies" (in Ireland and to a lesser degree Britain) etc. The birth control pill is known simply as "The Pill", and other methods of birth control are also given generalized euphemisms like "The Patch", "The Sponge", "Shots", etc. There are also many euphemisms for menstruation, such as "having the painters in", being "on the rag", "flying the flag" (originally a euphemism for hanging out the bedsheet after a wedding night as a testament to the woman's virginity), or it simply being "that time of the month", Munster playing at home (Irish) [32, p. 108].
Euphemisms are also common in reference to sexual orientations and lifestyles. For example in the movie "Closer" the character played by Jude Law uses the euphemism "He valued his privacy" for homosexual and "He enjoyed his privacy" for a flamboyant homosexual. Among common euphemisms for homosexuals, "gay" (the arcane meaning of the word 'gay' meant dissolute, hedonistic and a lover of pleasure but is now taken to mean the stereotypical flamboyant personality of homosexual men) and "lesbian" (in reference to the poet Sappho of Lesbos) are the only two that are generally acceptable in society. Other euphemisms for a homosexual, such as homo, queer, fag (originally a verb meaning "work", later applied to a first-year university student who performed chores for an older student — by extension, someone who is subservient, weak, or unmanly), bulldyke or simply dyke, butch (referring to a lesbian assuming the "male" role of a relationship) etc. have relatively quickly acquired a vulgar connotation, and even "gay" and "lesbian" have negative connotations in mainstream society depending on the tone of the conversation. The expression "that's so gay" has come into frequent pejorative usage in the U.S.
As an aside, the use of euphemisms for sexual activity has grown under the pressure of recent rulings by the Federal Communications Commission regarding what constitutes "decent" on-air broadcast speech. The FCC included many well known euphemisms in its lists of banned terms but indicated that even new and unknown coinages might be considered indecent once it became clear what they referenced. George Carlin's "Seven Words You Can't Say On TV" evolved into the "Incomplete List of Impolite Words", available in text and audio form, and contains hundreds of euphemisms and dysphemisms to genitalia, the act of having sex, various forms of sex, sexual orientations, etc. that have all become too pejorative for polite conversation, including such notables as "getting your pole varnished" and "eating the tuna taco". Carlin also did a bit on the uses of the word "fuck", originally only a dysphemism for the sex act but becoming an adverb, adjective, noun, etc. This "diversity" is also mentioned on in the movie The Boondock Saints after the main characters commit a mass murder of Russian mob bosses followed by a violent joke on a friend who is in the Mafia [29, p. 67].
2.1.4 Euphemisms for death
The English language contains numerous euphemisms related to dying, death, burial, and the people and places which deal with death. The practice of using euphemisms for death is likely to have originated with the magical belief that to speak the word "death" was to invite death; where to "draw Death's attention" is the ultimate bad fortune — a common theory holds that death is a taboo subject in most English-speaking cultures for precisely this reason. It may be said that one is not dying, but fading quickly because the end is near. People who have died are referred to as having passed away or passed or departed. Deceased is a euphemism for "dead", and sometimes the deceased is said to have gone to a better place, but this is used primarily among the religious with a concept of Heaven.
Some Christians often use phrases such as gone to be with the Lord or called to higher service (this latter expression being particularly prevalent in the Salvation Army) or "graduated" to express their belief that physical death is not the end, but the beginning of the fuller realization of redemption.
There are many euphemisms for the dead body, some polite and some profane, as well as dysphemisms such as worm food, or dead meat. Modern rhyming slang contains the expression brown bread. The corpse was once referred to as the shroud (or house or tenement) of clay, and modern funerary workers use terms such as the loved one (title of a novel about Hollywood undertakers by Evelyn Waugh) or the dear departed. (They themselves have given up the euphemism funeral director for grief therapist, and hold arrangement conferences with relatives.) Among themselves, mortuary technicians often refer to the corpse as the client. A recently dead person may be referred to as "the late John Doe". The terms cemetery for "graveyard" and undertaking for "burial" are so well-established that most people do not even recognize them as euphemisms. In fact, undertaking has taken on a negative connotation, as undertakers have a devious reputation [34, p. 53].
Contemporary euphemisms and dysphemisms for death tend to be quite colorful, and someone who has died is said to have passed away, passed on, checked out, bit the big one, kicked the bucket, bitten the dust, popped their clogs, pegged it, carked it, turned their toes up, bought the farm (origin unknown, but one popular theory is that it comes from the G.I. Insurance Policy as the amount of money the next of kin would receive was enough to buy a farm[citation needed])., cashed in their chips, croaked, given up the ghost (originally a more respectful term, cf. the death of Jesus as translated in the King James Version of the Bible Mark 15:37), gone south, gone west, shuffled off this mortal coil (from William Shakespeare's Hamlet), Run down the curtain and joined the Choir Invisible, or assumed room temperature (actually a dysphemism in use among mortuary technicians). When buried, they may be said to be pushing up daisies, sleeping the big sleep, taking a dirt nap, checking out the grass from underneath or six feet under. There are hundreds of such expressions in use. (Old Burma-Shave jingle: "If daisies are your favorite flower, keep pushin’ up those miles per hour!") In Edwin Muir's 'The Horses' a euphemism is used to show the elimination of the human race 'The seven days war that put the world to sleep.' [7, p. 67].
"Euthanasia" also attracts euphemisms. One may put one out of one's misery, put one to sleep, or have one put down, the latter two phrases being used primarily with dogs and cats who are being or have been euthanized by a veterinarian. (These terms are not usually applied to humans, because both medical ethics and law deprecate euthanasia.) In fact, Dr. Bernard Nathanson has pointed out that the word "euthanasia" itself is a euphemism, being Greek for "good death".
There are a few euphemisms for killing which are neither respectful nor playful, but rather clinical and detached. Some examples of this type are terminate, wet work, to take care of one or to take them for a ride, to do them in, to off, to take them out, to snuff them out, frag, smoke, lace, whack or waste someone. To cut loose or open up on someone or something means "to shoot at with every available weapon" [34, p. 67].
There are also many dysphemisms, especially for death, which are euphemisms or dysphemisms for other unpleasant events and thus are unpleasant in their literal meaning, used to generalize a bad event. "Having your ass handed to you", "left for the rats", "toasted", "roasted", "burned", "pounded", "bent over the barrel", "screwed over" or other terms commonly describe death or the state of imminent death, but also are common in describing defeat of any kind such as a humiliating loss in a sport or video game, being unfairly treated or cast aside in business affairs, being badly beaten in a fight, and similar.
To terminate with prejudice generally means to end one's employment without possibility of rehire (as opposed to lay off, where the person can expect rehire if business picks up), but the related term to terminate with extreme prejudice now usually means to kill. The adjective extreme may occasionally be omitted. In a famous line from the movie Apocalypse Now, Captain Willard is told to terminate Colonel Kurtz's commission "with extreme prejudice". An acronym, TWEP has been coined from this phrase, which can be used as a verb: "He was TWEPed/TWEPped."
The Dead Parrot Sketch from Monty Python's Flying Circus contains an extensive list of euphemisms for death, referring to the deceased parrot that the character played by John Cleese had purchased. The popularity of the sketch has itself increased the popularity of some of these euphemisms — indeed, it has introduced another euphemism for death, "pining for the fjords" — although in the sketch that phrase was used by the shop owner to assert that the parrot was not dead, but was merely quiet and contemplative. A similar passage occurs near the beginning of The Twelve Chairs, where Bezenchuk, the undertaker, astonishes Vorobyaninov with his classification of people by the euphemisms used to speak of their deaths. The game Dungeon Siege contains many euphemisms for death as well [36, p.49].
Also, a scene in the film Patch Adams features Patch (Robin Williams) dressed in an angel costume, reading out various synonyms and euphemisms for the phrase "to die" to a man dying of cancer. This evolves into a contest between the two men to see who can come up with more, and better, euphemisms, ending when Patch comes up with "and if we bury you ass up, we'll have a place to park my bike." (This is actually an old Danish joke used about the people from Århus ― who, still according to popular humor, can also choose to be buried with their noses above the surface, in order for them to be used as electrical plugs.)
The name of the village of Ban Grong Greng in Thailand is a euphemism for Death Village. It literally means the Village of the Dreaded Gong. It is so named because it is the home to Wat Grong Greng (temple of the dreaded gong) at which the burning of bodies at funerals is preceded by the beating of a gong.
2.1.5 Euphemisms in job titles
Euphemisms are common in job titles; some jobs have complicated titles that make them sound more impressive than the common names would imply. Many of these euphemisms may include words such as engineer, though in fact the people who do the job are not accredited in engineering. Extreme cases, such as sanitation engineer for janitor, or 'transparent-wall maintenance officer' for window cleaner, are cited humorously more often than they are used seriously. Another example is Henny Youngman's joke that his brother-in-law claimed to be a "diamond cutter" — his job was to mow the lawn at Yankee Stadium. Less extreme cases, such as custodian for janitor or administrative assistant for secretary, are considered more terms of respect than euphemisms. Where the work itself is seen as distasteful, a euphemism may be used, for example "rodent officer" for a rat-catcher, or "cemetery operative" for a gravedigger.
2.1.6 Phraseological euphemisms in modern English
The term “euphemism” (from Greek “eu” – “well”, “phemi” – “I am speaking”) has been used to denote a definite stylistic device for many centuries. As a linguistic phenomenon it has been analyzed since the XIXth century but only in the last decades the problem of euphemisms acquired its widespread popularity.
Linguists analyze different types of euphemisms as parts of lexical system of different languages. The problem of phraseological euphemisms hasn’t been in the focus of scientists’ attention yet. On the whole, the process of eupheminisation is considered to be a complex and many-sided linguistic phenomenon characterized by three interrelated and interconnected aspects: social, phycological and linguistic proper. The most important is the linguistic one which is connected with meliorative language evaluation of something negative existing in the real world. Linguists are united in their opinion that euphemisms are extralinguistic in their nature. Still there is a great divergency of opinions concerning social and psychological causes of euphemisms, the most important criteria of eupheminisation, stylistic reference and the usage of euphemisms in real speech.
All these testifies to the actuality of the problem analyzed.
The novelty of the paper is dictated by the fact that phraseological euphemisms haven’t been the object of scientific investigation so far. In a limited number of works they were analyzed together with other phraseological units belonging to some phraseo-semantic fields (e.g. “death”). Still they present some interest as indirect denominations of rather typical and even common phenomena of our everyday life. The fact that they have transferred meaning also adds importance to our investigation.
Phraseological euphemisms were picked out from A.Koonin’s “English-Russian Phraseological Dictionary” according to the label “эвф.”, some other phraseological dictionaries and books on phraseology. The author of the above mentioned dictionary includes this label into the system of stylistic labels marking at the same time that the system of stylistic labels is, to some extent, conventional. At the same time not all euphemisms are marked in the dictionary with this label. Some of them have other labels, e.g. “in a (the) family way” “разг.” (colloquial), “be out (take, leave) of one’s senses” “разг.” (colloquial), “shoot (sling, throw) the bull” “амер. жарг.”(Amer. jargon), “be off one’s nut” “жарг.” (jargon), etc [24]. According to the point of view of modern linguists they express notions which are considered inappropriate or rude. The image on which they are based is not rough or unpleasant, so they also belong to the group of phraseological euphemisms [31, p. 49].
The examples of illustrative quotations are taken either from the above mentioned dictionary or from the book “Exercises in Modern English Lexicology” by L.Grinberg, M.Kuznets, A.Kumacheva and G.Meltser .
First of all, phraseological euphemisms will be studied from the point of view of the notions they express. Secondly, one synonymic group of phraseological euphemisms will be investigated from the point of view of different types of synonyms.
From the point of view of their semantics phraseological euphemisms (PE) may be subdivided into several groups, the most important of them are:
1.Euphemisms naming death and everything connected with it, e.g. “to breath one’s last (one’s last breath, gasp)”, “to depart this life”, “to pay one’s debt to nature”, “to go to one’s last home”, “to go the way of all flesh”, “to kick the bucket”, “to hop the twig”, “to join the majority”, “to be no more”, “God’s acre”, etc.:
The next day, his parents were flown to New Mexico by special Army plane, and they stayed at their son’s bedside, until he breathed his last [15,p. 79-81].
A strapping lad like Cliffy Benton to be smashed up and put out of his life, and all the parsons can do about it is stuff religion down y’r throat, and try to make y’ believe Cliffy’s gone to glory: ‘God knows best.” [4, p. 140].
Patrick Henry has already gone to his long home; Samuel Adams was soon to follow.
He did not talk to them; they had already been told exactly what each of them was to do, and who was to do what in case the first-chice man kicked the bucket or was otherwise out.
He pardoned us off-hand, and allowed us something to live on till he went the way of all flesh.
Religious and moral factors are the driving forces of this group of phraseological euphemisms. Fear before death and, sometimes, the desire not to hurt a person, to show one’s tact and courtesy can be considered to be the emotional basis of such PE. This group of PE is rather numerous.
2.Euphemisms naming social evils, crimes, human vices and their consequences, e.g. “three sheets in (to) the wind”, “in one’s cups”, “send somebody to glory”, “send somebody to kingdom-come”, “the Duke of Exeter’s daughter”, shoot (sling, throw) the bull”, “kiss the cup”, “have (take) a drop”, “have one too many”, “have had a few”, etc.:
They threatened to make me hug the Duke of Exeter’s daughter.
…he is a good unconscious spy on Brass, and tells, in his cups, all that he sees and hears [4. p. 138-146].
‘Did you have a chance to say a few words to the Governor tonight, Luke?’ he asked anxiously. “Sure, I was over there shooting the breeze with him just a few minutes ago’ [13. p. 96-132].
Moral principles serve as a social determinant of phraseological euphemisms of this rather large group. Social evils and human vises have always been a rich source of creating such PEs.
3.Euphemisms naming poverty, hard financial situation, e.g. “be in Queer Street”, “live from hand to mouth”, “not to have a shirt to one’s back”, “not <to have> a penny to bless oneself with”; “without a penny to one’s name”, “keep body and soul together”, make <both, two> ends meet”:
Brown came to see me yesterday, and from what he told me, the poor chap doesn’t seem to have a shirt to his back. He has been out of employment for over a year now! (SPI).
One of his guests, a writer of poetical drama, was a man who three months after he had earned a thousand pound, never had a penny with which to bless himself”.
Poverty has always been a very undesirable and unpleasant condition, especially in the English society. No wonder that poor people tried to conceal their poor financial situation using or inventing indirect names for it.
4.Euphemisms naming mental deformities (disability), e.g. “be out (take, leave) of one’s senses”, “be off one’s nut”, “go nuts”, “soft (touched, weak) in the head”, “a strange bird”, a weird (strange) customer”, a weird (strange) card (duck)”, etc.:
Woman, you’ve gone too far! You’re out of your senses! [14, p. 45].
“He said he didn’t want to see you…’ Babbit reared over him. The attendant hastily changed to a coaxing. ‘You can come back and try to-morrow. Probably the poor guy is off his nut’[13, p. 46].
She did one good thing – the dumb girl in that Russian play. But she can’t speak for nuts; you’re following the sense of her words all the time.
He looked out the pub window at the sky-high mountain peaks that seem to be nudging Vancouver into the sea. ‘Sometimes I think I’ll go nuts, staring at those things’ [15, p. 91].
Mental and physical handicaps cause the sense of pity, sometimes disgust. No wonder that there appeared a lot of phraseological euphemisms to name them.
5.Euphemisms naming some acts or conditions from the sphere of physiology, e.g. “pay a call”, “a call of nature”, “ in the straw”, “in a (the) family way”, “in nature’s garb”, “not a stitch on”, “in a state of nature”, “in one’s skin”, etc.:
The tall dark girl came to see Doctor Reefy because she was in the family way and had become frightened.
Angelina. Your friend, the bald man, the one who calls for you, where is he?
Philip. He is at the moment responding to a call of nature [4, p. 48].
The little bay was so sheltered that we could bathe without a stitch to our backs. (DEI).
It is interesting to note that the polysemantic phraseological unit “not (without) a stitch to one’s back” is a phraseological euphemism in both meanings: 1. absolutely naked; 2. very poor. Physiological function, the condition of pregnancy and human nakedness are considered to be indecent or not worth speaking about in normal society according to moral principles existing in such a society.
6.Euphemisms referring to the sexual sphere, e.g. “a lady of easy virtue”, “a light (easy) woman”, “a real battleaxe
In my bedroom we would pass the hours making love or talking and only too often quarrelling.
It is entirely populated by crooks, stock-exchange jugglers, corrupt policemen, and … ladies of easy virtue.
Phraseological euphemisms belonging to one and the same phraseo-semantic group may further be subdivided into synonymic groups as there are different grammatical classes in one and the same group – verbal, substantive, adjectival, etc. Phraseological synonyms belong to the same grammatical class and are phraseological units which are the same in the plane of content but different in the plane of expression.
The majority of linguists distinguish three types of phraseological synonyms: ideographic, stylistic and stylistic-ideographic. Ideographic synonyms differ in shades of meaning or have different notional components of meaning. Their archesemes coincide but they have one or more minor differential semes in the denotational component of meaning. Stylistic synonyms have the same notional components of meaning but differ in their stylistic reference. Stylistic-ideographic synonyms have some different notional and connotational components of meaning.
There are also synonyms that coincide both in denotational and connotational components of phraseological meaning. Such synonyms are called equivalent (or equipollent) ones.
We have analyzed the synonymic group of phraseological euphemisms with the meaning “to die”. This synonymic group is rather numerous as the concept of death finds its reflection in all languages and the attitude towards this “event” is similar. “All people are mortal” is a well-known expression, so speakers of different languages as representatives of different nations and nationalities try to conceal the unpleasant emotions and painful news. Phraseological units are based on different images, the majority of such images may be considered elevated, as in such units as “ go to a better world”, “go to glory”, “go to heaven”, “go to kingdom-come”, “go to one’s last (long) home”, etc. Others are based on some “common” images, e.g. “ take the ferry”, “be (go) up the flume” (in the second meaning), “to be no more”. Only a very limited number of phraseological euphemisms of this synonymic group “use” the images which can cause ironical or jocular attitude, e.g. “kick the bucket”, “to hop the twig” [6, p. 48].
All phraseological units belonging to this group of phraseological synonyms denote one and the same action, that’s why their denotational components coincide. Differences may be observed either in emotional evaluation or stylistic reference of phraseological units.
First of all we distinguish equivalent (equipollent) phraseological synonymic euphemisms which coincide in both components of their phraseological meaning (denotational and connotational). Coincidence in their connotational components means coincidence in their evaluation, emotiveness, expressivity and stylistic reference. Death is presented in them as something positive, going to the better world, to God. Such expressions are etymologically connected with belief in God, with the Bible or were borrowed from Latin, e.g. “go to one’s last (long) home” was used in the Bible, Ecclesiastes XII, 5. The origin of the phraseological euphemism “join the <great> majority” dates to the Latin expression “abiit ad plures”.
Let’s present equivalent phraseological synonymic euphemisms: “join one’s ancestors”, “be gathered to one’s fathers”, “go beyond the veil”, “go the way of nature”, “go to a better world”, “go to glory”, “go to kingdom-come”, “go to one’s last (long) home”, “join the <great> majority”.
It is interesting to note that there are no ideographic phraseological synonyms in this group of PEs. Such cases are very rare, in our group of synonyms it is caused by the fact that all phraseological synonyms have the same meaning “to die” without some additional shades of denotational meaning as it is observed in other groups of phraseological synonyms.
The group of stylistic synonyms constitute the above mentioned PEs (belonging to the group of equivalent synonyms and being stylistically neutral), on the one hand, and such synonyms as “go west” (colloquial), or “go the way of all flesh” (bookish), on the other hand. They denote the same notion, coincide in their denotational component, are based on different images and belong to different stylistic layers [34, p. 154].
The last group of phraseological synonyms – stylistic-ideographic, in our case is presented by phraseological euphemisms belonging to different stylistic layers and differentiating in emotional colouring as a subcomponent of connotation. It means that some phraseological units such as “kick the bucket”, “be (go) up the flume” (in the second meaning), “throw up the sponge” are characterized by a jocular or ironical emotiveness in comparison with other units of this synonymic group. Thus they differ in the emotive connotational subcomponent. Besides such units as “kick the bucket” (jargon), “be (go) up the flume” (American colloquial), “go west” (colloquial), “go hence”, “go beyond the veil”, etc. differs in their stylistic reference. So such phraseological euphemisms belong to the group of stylistic-ideographic synonyms.
A very good way to see the difference between the three groups of phraseological synonyms is to see the behaviour of PEs belonging to different groups in context:
‘You think I’m going to join the majority.’ ‘…Well, put it that way if you like.’
About one year after his wife’s death Mr.Pontifex also was gathered to his fathers.
There is a very interesting illustration of several PEs belonging to this group used in one and the same context:
‘You see, one of the boys has gone up the flume –‘ ‘Gone where?’ ‘Up the flume – throwed up the sponge, you understand.’ ‘Thrown up the sponge?’ ‘Yes, kicked the bucket’ – ‘Ah! Has departed to that mysterious country from whose bourne no traveler returns.’ ‘Return! I reckon not. Why, pard, he’s dead.’ [16, p. 91].
The analysis of phraseological synonymic euphemisms with the meaning “to die” has shown that the synonymic group consists of different groups of synonyms: equivalent, stylistic and stylistic-ideographic. They describe the same event with the help of different images on which the PEs are based. A rather large number of PEs of this group shows us the importance of phraseological euphemisms used to satisfy the need to soften such painful news as somebody’s death.
3 STYLISTIC ASPECT OF EUPHEMISTIC MAPPING IN MODERN ENGLISH
3.1 Emotions caused by the process of euphemistic mapping
Words like "emotional problems" are euphemisms. Nobody has emotional problems; there is no such thing as an emotional problem. Those words are strictly euphemistic. If you have followed the evolution of the language on the chuck bag (a euphemism) in airplanes, you know what a euphemism is. The study of such terminology is a study in euphemism. The language identifying the chuck bag originally said, "For Vomiting," and probably more people did because it said so than for any other reason. The language later was changed to read: "For Air Sickness/ but that wording still had powerful side effects. A later euphemism, still found on some planes, says: "For Motion Discomfort." The latest bags have either no wording at all or tic tac toe designs!
The study of words like "emotional problem," "mental illness," etc., provides another more serious study in euphemism. Usually when one complains of emotional difficulties, there is nothing wrong with his emotions (i.e., there has been no neurological, glandular, or vascular impairment). When a depressed counselee says that he has an emotional problem, the counselor should tell him: "No you don't; your emotions are working very well. Look how depressed (anxious, etc.) you are. The problem is not that you have an emotional problem, as if your emotions have been disturbed or were immature (another euphemism), but that some other cause has triggered these unpleasant emotions. To get on top of your emotions, you must get to the bottom of the problem, and in many cases at the bottom of unpleasant emotions is sin."
Christian counselors may not cuphemize when it comes to dealing with sin. His problem, for instance, is not "emotional immaturity" when a counselee is following a pattern of life other than God's. The counselee's behavior is wrong; there is nothing wrong with his emotions. His conscience, i.e., his ability to make judgments about his own behavior (accuse or excuse), may trigger all sorts of pleasant or unpleasant emotions it is true. Sinful behavior leads to unpleasant emotional experiences. But the way to get relief from these is not by attacking the emotions, but by changing (repenting of) the behavior. One may not repent merely for relief. He must repent because he has sinned against God. The problem is a behavioral problem, not an emotional problem.
It is unfortunate that this misleading euphemism, "emotional problem," is so frequently used by Christians. It has gained wide acceptance and is used in several forms: emotional difficulties, emotional problems, emotional immaturity, and emotional sickness Obviously emotions do not mature. One of the worst combinations that I have seen occurred in a recent publication by a Christian who is a psychiatrist. He speaks of "damaged emotions."
The source of one's problems, in the instances of nonorganic difficulties about which we have been speaking, then, is not an emotional impairment or malfunction but lies behind the unpleasant visceral (etc.) responses that the counselee wishes to expel. These emotions are organic bodily responses that are largely involuntary and are triggered by behavior, thoughts, and attitudes. The problem is not emotional but pre-emotional. The emotion is triggered by immediate conscious thought and/or action, or unconscious habit patterns that automatically release emotional responses. The solution lies not in direct attacks upon the emotions (drugs, alcohol, frontal lobotomies, etc.), but in rooting out the cause of the emotional response. If there is specific behavior or thought that is directly associated with the undesirable emotion, then it may be dealt with concretely. If the emotional response resulted from a well-developed sinful response pattern no longer requiring conscious thought to set it in motion, then the solution lies in discovering the pattern and dehabituating the counselec through the sanctifying work of the Spirit by means of His Word. The pattern must be broken and replaced by a biblical one [34, p. 76].
Since emotion plays such a significant role in counseling and since there is a considerable amount of confusion regarding it, it will be well to consider the language of emotion and action.
3.2 Interaction of emotions and ethnic culture in euphemisms
As we found out earlier English language was formed more than two thousand years ago and has its own peculiarities. In fact, all kinds of English language writings are to a greater or lesser degree both informative and evaluative. English language seeks to influence public opinion on political and other "matters". Though almost all newspaper features (brief news items, advertisements and announcements, the headlines and the editorials) are stylistically neutral. But apart from this newspaper style has its specific vocabulary features aimed to prompt the necessary associations and prevent ambiguity and misunderstanding. The authors use emotionally colored vocabulary in the headlines to lure the reader into going trough the whole of the item or at least a greater part of it Editorials comment on the political and other events of the day. Their purpose is to give the editor's opinion and interpretation of the news published and suggests to the reader that it is the correct one. Like any evaluative writing, editorials appeal not only to the reader's mind but to his feelings as well. Here the use of emotionally colored language elements, both lexical and structural.
While reading a newspaper a reader perceives some information and evaluates it from his own point of view. A newspaper article is aimed at the reader's mind and, being an important source of information, a newspaper article plays a big role in the formation of conceptual world view.
Newspaper articles are the product of the written language and as it was above mentioned language participates in the formation of the world view behind the language and reflects and expresses other world views. So, we can speak about the connection and we observe a great influence of materials given in the newspaper article on the reader's world view formation, judgments and evaluations. Here we can speak about anthropocentric nature of newspaper style articles.
These articles appeal to the feelings of the reader and call different emotions, negative and positive. Emotions come and appear after our intellectual evaluation of the thing as something possible, impossible, desirable, unexpected or expected. When we evaluate the events as positive, desirable, expected positive emotions appear (gladness, joy, hope), but when we evaluate the events as undesirable, unexpected we get negative emotions - sorrow, grief, indignation.
Nobody will deny that newspapers provide us with both negative and positive information. After reading good news we feel good and bad news call only negative feelings. Reading an article we often can not withhold comments and it reveals the level of the material influence on the reader's mind. Our comments are the outer realization of our emotions. Emotions are universal and ascribed to all people regardless of their culture, language and educational level. But universal emotions are characterized by national peculiarities.
The people of particular ethnic group have a peculiar perception, understanding of the objective world. They share the same values (wealth, job, family, success, etc.); but the most important values were formed in the process of own historical and cultural development. So, two ethnic groups will perceive the same thing differently.
In our work we consider Russian and English folks and try to describe their perception of newspaper material, political matters in particular. We say that emotional coloring in newspaper articles is achieved with the help of various stylistic devices, especially euphemisms. And it is true that all of us, not just poets, speak in euphemisms, whether we realize it or not? Is it perhaps even true that we live by euphemisms? Euphemisms not only make our thoughts more vivid and interesting but that they actually structure our perceptions and understanding.
Thinking of marriage as a "contract agreement," for example may lead to one set of expectations, while thinking of it as "team play," "a negotiated settlement," "Russian roulette," "an indissoluble merger," or "a religious sacrament" will carry different sets of expectations.
When a government thinks of its enemies as "turkeys or "clowns" it does not take them as serious threats, but if they are "victims" in the hands of the communists, they are taken seriously [28, p. 49].
3.3 Cognitive structure of source domain and target domain in the process of new euphemistic nomination
Euphemisms being a stylistic devise is often realized not through one euphemistic model but at least 2 or 3. Euphemisms may be dead (conventional) and alive bound together in this bunch. Euphemisms may be combined on the basis of linguistic and cognitive semantics. Lexical combinability allows the combinability of euphemisms on lexical and semantic levels. By cognitive level we mean combinability of cognitive structures, so to say the structures of knowledge. The types of combining different euphemistic models into one bunch can be explained through cognitive and semantic principles. Statistic data and conclusions have been made by Kacev and Zabotkina in 1981. The volume of data about 800 contexts which contained different types of political euphemisms has undergone the analysis. They think their conclusions have become obsolete. A new theoretical approach of describing the types of combinability of euphemistic models has been introduced by. Kacev and Zabotkina in 90s of the 20th
century. It's so called the cognitive model of an euphemistic formation [24, p. 79-82].
Cognitive model of an euphemistic formation is based on the interaction of two structures of knowledge:
1. Cognitive structure of a source domain
2. Cognitive structure of a target domain
In the process of euphemization some target areas are groupped. This process is called euphemistic mapping. The hypothesis that the source domain is reflected and repeated again in the target domain is called invariant hypothesis. These projections are found at sentence and text levels.
We should pay attention to the idea of passiveness and dependence, which itself is a part of the cognitive structure "herd". We know a herd is governed by a cowboy.
The process of euphemization through the idea of cognitive euphemisms gives the explanation of the process on the whole, but there's no clear-cut answer in detail to explain the process of interaction of the source domain and the target domain. No language has been worked out to explain formal procedures of transformation of the language. The problem isn't in the description but how to present the information in the source and target domains which tend to be different.
According to Zabotkina’s theory "euphemisms give us a chance to understand very abstract things through structurally organized things at another level" [24, p. 87]. His theory of a linear direction of euphemistic mapping caused a lot of talks. It's not true to life. In thepolitical discourse politics is conceptualized as a member of a family in the euphemisms "a family free" and it doesn't meet the requirement of a linear direction of euphemistic mapping. Very often the target domain isn't clear-cut, it doesn't need any changes in the structure but it needs reconsideration. The target domain may be changed semantically in a short or longer period of time. The time is mentioned because on the lexical and semantic levels we must use different grammatical structures, stylistic meanings, and the vocabulary. But in the majority of cases the core of the euphemistic system brings into life euphemisms with a linear direction of euphemistic mapping. One and the most important function of euphemisms is getting a new knowledge or cognitive functions.
The area of the source domain contains: generalized experience about the men's world of the universe. Knowledge in the area of source domain is organized in the forms of image-schemas. They are basic and simple, regularly, physically reproduced in the process of a human's physical interaction with the real life.
These schemes are: "container", "balance", "way", "up-down", "forward-backward", "a part and the whole". Very stable correlations between the source and target domains are fixed up in the language means and cultural traditions of the given society. They are called conceptual euphemisms. To them people in Europe refer such metaphorical protections as: "time is money", "life is travel", "quarrel is war". Cognitive euphemisms which are stable form cognitive models. They are cognitive categories and thus belong to the sphere of cognitive psychology.
What is euphemistic mapping from a formal point of view? it has the function to reflect the elements of source domain and bring them to the target domain. We speak of the departure area and the area of destination. The stability of correlation between these two areas varies from a lesser stable in alive and new euphemisms up to dead metaphors found in stable correlations between the two areas.
When we start to examine language means in these areas we see they are not complicated but simple. The linear direction of euphemistic models comes to the place of destination, to the target domain. There elements which constitute the target domain are very complicated. This projection doesn't bring simplicity but complexicity.
Different euphemistic consequences and interpretations in the context vary.
But within one context it is easy. But it is not the case when we find a number of themes in the source domain. For example when a politician is likened to Fox Alice, then through euphemistic projection we establish the connection between "a fox" in the source domain "animals" and "politician" in the target domain. Secondly we establish euphemistic projection between Fox Alice in the source domain as a literary character and the correlated word "politician" in the target domain.
3.4 Differences of euphemistic projection in image schemes and newly nominated euphemisms
1)The category of cognitive metaphor is very close to the metaphorical model of image-scheme. Image schemes are the component parts of the correlated euphemistic models.
2)The second peculiarity and difference lies in different ways of the presentation of knowledge.
In literature image schemes are connected on the cognitive level, also on euphemistic consequences. Image schemes are cognitive structures, so to say structurally packed knowledge of the world. How are they presented? A familiar way is through the knowledge in our heads. Euphemistic models unite a great number of image schemes in one and the same conceptual field - semantic field.
Euphemistic projection of "euphemisms naming death and everything connected with it " in our heads includes such components as: “to breath one’s last (one’s last breath, gasp)”, “to depart this life”, “to pay one’s debt to nature”, “to go to one’s last home”, “to go the way of all flesh”, “to kick the bucket”, “to hop the twig”, “to join the majority”, “to be no more”, “God’s acre”, etc.
3)Image-schemas are independent and form cognitive models which are applied to a certain situation euphemistic model is global in its content, connected with other euphemistic models. This can be found in the tree. Each euphemistic model is characterized by various paradigmatic relations with other models, as some models are the constituent parts of a larger euphemistic models. Example " euphemisms naming death and everything connected with it " - is the constituent part of the euphemistic model " religious and moral factors are the driving forces of this group of phraseological euphemisms; fear before death and, sometimes, the desire not to hurt a person, to show one’s tact and courtesy can be considered to be the emotional basis of such phraseological euphemisms. This group of phraseological euphemisms is rather numerous".
4)The fourth difference lies in the fact that euphemistic model in a greater degree is connected with language meant. On the contrary cognitive structures of image- schemes may not be verbalized at all. In a way we may say that an image-schema is more cognitive than euphemistic model. Euphemistic model makes use of the vocabulary to fix euphemistic process on paper.
5)There is one more difference between image - schemas and euphemistic models. Image - schemas as cognitive structure appears on the basis of physical interaction of a man with the real world. It is the life experience of a man's body but not his social experience. Difference lies in the fact that a great number of euphemistic models are not based on the linear direction of euphemistic projections. They are different from this statement. For example, such euphemistic models as literature, medicine, religion, mythology, theater, play drop out of the image - schemes, through euphemistic models are widely used.
It is very important to focus our attention on the process of euphemistic mapping from the source domain to target domain. The interpretation of this mapping establishes various reflections of euphemistic models.
The source and target domains may be loaded hard. The more loaded the target domain is the more potential it has. It is possible to count how many denotative descriptors come out to one significant descriptor. Euphemistic model of "mechanism" was met in "the political discourse 1904 times. It means that one significant descriptor "mechanism" was used in 2 different descriptions of political economical life. This euphemistic model has a great potential in the interpretation of political events.
6)Euphemistic model is characterized by the stability of denotative projections in our real life, it's very important to recognize conceptual euphemisms which define our perception of the world at a definite time and culture.
3.5 The psychological aspect of studying euphemisms & dysphemisms
Introduction euphemisms and dysphemisms is better to do with the defining terms "euphemism" and "dysphemism". "A euphemism is used as an alternative to a dispreferred expression, in order to avoid possible loss of face: either one's own face or, through giving offence, that of the audience, or some third party". Euphemism is a word or an expression that people use instead of indecent, indelicate, rude, too direct or impolite words and expressions. The opposite sides of euphemisms are taboo words and dysphemisms. "A dysphemism is an expression with connotations that are offensive either about the denotatum or to the audience, or both, and it is substituted for a neutral or euphemistic expression for just that reason". It is important to say that euphemisms are opposed with taboo words because of cause and effect relations. Dysphemisms are opposed with euphemisms because of the evaluation content basis. The function of dysphemisms is to aggravate a denotatum with any evaluation content at the expense of more negative one.
A dysphemism is a word or an expression that is generally used to offend somebody deliberately. It paints a negative picture without seemingly lying. For example the phrase "My boss is something else" doesn't carry something swearing bit it is slanted towards negativity.
What is actually considered to be euphemistic and what is considered to be dysphemistic depends on the speaker and the way he or she interprets the message. At the same time a euphemism may loose its ennobling characteristics and turn into a dysphemism and it is required to be replaced. For example, the word "black" was a euphemism for the word with a negative connotation "negro". But the frequent using the word "black" as a euphemism had deleted its meaning and has transferred the word "black" to the category of the direct names.
The psychological aspect pays attention to "straight to the generating motives" [37, p. 61].
In lexicology the studying of euphemisms and dysphemisms from the psychological point of view is well-done. At present according to the generating motives there are five groups of euphemisms that have appeared because of: 1) superstition, 2) the feeling of fear, 3) sympathy and compassion, 4) the feeling of shame and, 5) the feeling of politeness.
To V. I. Zabotkina's opinion some pragmatic reasons are the base of the generating motives. At first, it is a politeness, which has defined the creation of euphemisms for physical and mental defects. Secondly, taboo words, when euphemisms were used instead of direct names of diseases and deaths. Thirdly, it's the influence the general readers. Fourthly, it's restricness, which has influenced the creation of euphemisms within the different social illegal groups [23, p. 68-72].
According to А. M. Kacev's classification of generating motives there are three emotional spheres: fear, odium and shame [25, p. 67].
Linguists say these or those emotions are generating motives for the creation both euphemisms and dysphemisms. And perhaps the development of nominations with pejorative evaluation content was the base of making dysphemisms.
At present this kind of words gets into high level of vocabulary. Using words with negative meaning and invectives the speaker feels the magic influence that he or she is everything allowed. The domination of such words is a natural thing because people perceive negative sides of life more violent than positive ones. The latter is regarded as normal and that is why they are less emotive. Of course it is easier to hold somebody up to shame than to praise somebody to the skies.
CONCLUSION
Our objective conceptual world is realized through our local conceptual world. It is reflected with the help of different language means. The choice of words that we exchange in the intercourse depends much on the specific situation, our up-bringing, social position, education, cultural traditions, gender, age. Many euphemisms are so funny that many people laugh at them. They sometimes are called “white washing device”, because every euphemisms calls up a definite synonym in the mind of the reader or listener. Euphemisms have very serious reasons for being, because they conceal the things people fear the most – death, the supernatural. Thus, euphemisms are society’s basic language. Euphemisms are beloved by individuals and institutions who are anxious to present only the possible images of themselves to the world. A euphemisms may acquire unpleasant associations. In political and military language euphemisms are often used to conceal or deceive:
1. industrial strike was called the final solution
2. police action for war
3. armed reconnaissance for bombing
When a phrase is used as a euphemism it becomes a metaphor whose literal meaning is dropped. They are used to hide disturbing ideas even when the literal term for them isn’t necessary offensive. The type of euphemisms used in public relations and politics is called doublespeak. Sometimes using euphemisms is equaled to politeness. There are euphemisms which are based on the idea that words have the power to bring bad fortune (for example, not speaking the word “cancer”), there are religious euphemisms, based on the idea that some words are sacred, that some words are spiritually imperiling (taboo). All cultures use them to talk about the things they find terrifying (e. g., war, sickness, death). We use euphemisms to express taboos as we feel on the instinctual level that the euphemism keeps us at safe distance from the taboo itself. Another use of euphemisms is to elevateу the status of something (e. g., using educator for a teacher, attorney for a lawyer), we use euphemisms to express what is socially difficult to express in direct forms.
Periphrasis is a basic means of euphemistic formation. They are formed by altering the pronunciation or spelling of a taboo word. In American English words which are unacceptable on TV may be represented by deformations such as frenk even in children’s cartoons instead of fuck. Military and large corporations work out a lot of euphemisms of a more deliberate nature. Organizations coin doublespeak expressions to describe actions that seem neutral and inoffensive. Military organizations may kill people sometimes deliberately sometimes by mistake in doublespeak, the first is called neutralizing the target, the second is called collateral damage abortion originally meant premature birth. The meaning of term “abort” was extended to mean any kind of premature ending, such as aborting the launch of a rocket. Abortion came to mean induced abortion or elective abortion. A great number of euphemisms in English came from Latin roots.
The opposite sides of euphemisms are taboo words and dysphemisms. Dysphemism is an expression with connotations that are offensive. They are opposed to euphemisms because of content. The function of dysphemism is to aggravate the denotatum with the meaning which is more negative. They are used to offend somebody deliberately.
The motives of appearance of euphemisms:
1. superstition;
2. the feeling of fear;
3. sympathy and compassion;
4. the feeling of shame;
5. the feeling of politeness.
The formation of new nominations with euphemisms are based on 3 emotional sphere:
1. fear;
2. odium;
3. shame.
Euphemisms and dysphemisms get pejorative evaluation.
Psychological aspect of the study euphemisms and dysphemisms explains domination of euphemisms and dysphemisms in the active vocabulary. These words get into high level of the vocabulary. Using words with negative meaning, euphemisms and dysphemisms with pejorative evaluation makes the speaker feel their magic influence and that he or she is everything allowed. Very narrow local world view of a man makes negative sides of life more dominating than positive ones.
Classification of euphemistic mapping on the thematic principle divide them into different categories:
1. terms of foreign and technical origin ( copulation, security breach)
2. abbreviation (SOB for son of a bitch), abbreviation in clinical settings ( PITA for “pain in the ass” patient)
3. indirections (behind, privates, unmentionable)
4. mispronunciation (goldarnit)
5. cases with litotes or reserved understatement (not exactly thin for fat, not completely truthful for lied)
6. changing nouns to modifiers(right – wing element for “Right Wing”)
Appendix A includes 97 words with synonyms and their euphemistic variants.
Appendix B demonstrates examples of euphemisms and dysphemisms which appeared and based on the feeling of politeness and impoliteness, the feeling of shame, the feeling of fear, the feeling of compassion and sympathy. So we get extremely negative and offensive dysphemisms opposed to euphemisms which sound milder and contain a number of synonyms. Religious euphemisms date back to very early written records in Christian, Egyptian and Jewish religious rituals. Protection of sacred names has always given rise to euphemisms.
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APPENDIX A
Short glossary of words and their euphemisms (word – euphemisms)
| WORDS |
SYNONYMS |
EUPHEMISM WORD |
| accident |
crisis, disaster |
incident |
| addict |
addiction substance, substance abuser |
chemical dependency |
| adulterous |
- |
extramarital |
| arrest |
- |
apprehend |
| beggar |
panhandler |
homeless person |
| bombing |
- |
air support |
| break-in |
- |
break security |
| brothel |
- |
massage parlor |
| cheap |
frugal, thrifty |
economical |
| coffin |
- |
casket |
| complaint form |
- |
response form |
| confinement |
- |
detention |
| criminal |
- |
illegal |
| criminal (n) |
- |
juvenile delinquent |
| crippled |
disabled |
physically challenged |
APPENDIX A (continuation)
| WORDS |
SYNONYMS |
EUPHEMISM WORD |
| dead, departed |
deceased, late, gone, lost |
passed |
| death insurance |
- |
life insurance |
| death penalty |
- |
capital punishment |
| death |
destination, demise, end |
better world, afterlife |
| die |
pass away, pass on, expire |
go to heaven |
| drug addict |
- |
substance abuser |
| drugs |
- |
illegal substances |
| drunk (adj) |
intoxicated, inebriated |
tipsy |
| exploit (land) |
- |
develop |
| fail (v) |
fizzle out, fall short |
go out of business |
| false |
- |
prosthesis |
| false teeth |
- |
dentures |
| fat |
overweight, chubby, portly |
stout, plump |
| fire (v) |
lay off, streamline, release, let go, downsize |
rightsize |
| garbage collector |
- |
sanitation person |
APPENDIX A (continuation)
| WORDS |
SYNONYMS |
EUPHEMISM WORD |
| hyperactive |
- |
attention deficit disorder |
| illegal worker |
- |
undocumented worker |
| imprisoned |
- |
incarcerated |
| informer |
- |
confidential source |
| jail |
- |
secure facility |
| jungle |
- |
rain forest |
| juvenile delinquent |
problem child |
at-risk child |
| kill |
- |
put down to sleep |
| to kill on a mass basis |
- |
to liquidate |
| killing of innocents |
- |
collateral damage |
| lawyer |
- |
attorney |
| lazy |
- |
unmotivated |
| make love |
- |
sleep with |
| money |
- |
funds |
| mortuary |
funeral home |
funeral parlor |
| mortuary |
funeral home |
funeral parlor |
APPENDIX A (continuation)
| WORDS |
SYNONYMS |
EUPHEMISM WORD |
| multi-racial |
- |
diverse |
| murder |
kill, do someone in |
finish off someone |
| noisy |
- |
boisterous |
| office equipment |
- |
productivity, products |
| old |
mature, distinguished, senior, traditional |
seasoned, new (the house is 2 years new) |
| old person |
senior, citizen |
pensioner |
| old person’s home |
convalescent hospital, retirement home |
rest home, nursing home |
| one-room apartment |
studio apartment |
efficiency |
| pay (n) |
remuneration |
salary |
| person |
representative |
individual |
| perspire |
perspiration |
sweat |
| police officer |
- |
peace officer |
| poor children |
- |
at-risk children |
| poor nation |
emerging nation, developing nation |
third-world nation |
| poor student |
underachiever |
underperformer |
APPENDIX A (continuation)
| WORDS |
SYNONYMS |
EUPHEMISM WORD |
| power failure |
- |
service interruption |
| prison |
- |
correctional facility |
| prisoner |
inmate, convict |
detainee |
| problem issue |
challenge |
complication |
| rain |
snow, hail |
precipitation |
| remedial education |
- |
special education |
| removed from duty |
- |
put on administrative leave |
| repression (social, political) |
- |
law and order |
| retarded |
special, slow |
mentally challenged |
| rough |
- |
physical |
| rude |
- |
self-centered |
| sales |
- |
marketing |
| sales man - woman |
- |
sales associate |
| say |
indicate, disclose |
mention |
| secretary |
- |
administrative assistant |
| sexual relationship |
involvement, intimate |
affair |
APPENDIX A (continuation)
| WORDS |
SYNONYMS |
EUPHEMISM WORD |
| sick |
indisposed, ill |
under the weather |
| small |
quant, cozy |
petite |
| to suicide (to commit) |
to end it all, take the easy way out |
do oneself in |
| teacher |
- |
educator |
| theft |
- |
inventory shrinkage |
| tip |
- |
gratitude |
| toilet |
men’s room, workroom, restroom, bathroom, wc |
lavatory |
| tramp |
- |
homeless person |
| ugly |
unattractive |
plain |
| underwear (women’s) |
- |
lingerie |
| unemployed |
between jobs |
taking time off |
| unreserved seating |
general admission |
festival seating |
| used (adj) |
previously-owned, pre-owned |
second-hand |
| vagrant |
- |
homeless person |
| venereal disease |
- |
social disease |
APPENDIX B
General classification of euphemisms and dysphemisms from the psychological point of view
| Generating motives |
Examples euphemisms dysphemisms |
||
| Feeling of politeness or impoliteness |
Mental defects |
barmy, dense, soft, queer, leather-head, to go off one’s mind, to be off one's loop, to be off one's rocker; |
dork, dumb-ass, dullard, to have bats in one's belfry; |
| Physical defects |
disable, handicapped, aurally challenged, aurally handicapped, physically challenged, physically handicapped, mentally challenged, impaired hearing; |
cripple, stupid; |
|
| Age |
senior, middlescence, third age, ageful (old), golden years, silver ager; |
||
| Social inequality |
a) Afro-American, Native Americans |
Nigger Red Indian |
|
| Feeling of shame |
Sex relations |
affair, ballet, exploit; |
fuck; |
| skin flicks, adult movie, pill, to be in an interesting condition, sexual congress; |
|||
| accommodation house, assignation house , disorderly house; |
drunkard, to dupe, to lick smb`s boots; |
||
APPENDIX B (continuation)
| Superstition |
rite (sacrament) of reconciliation; |
||
| Feeling of fear |
Death |
to go west, to depart, to pass away, to draw one's last breath, to join the silent, to lose one's life, to join (great) majority, to go to meet one's maker, a leap in the dark; |
to kiss the dust, to kick the bucket, to croak, |
| Diseases |
Growth, Big C |
||
| Sympathy & compassion |
Poverty |
shopping-bag lady, street person |
beggar |
APPENDIX C
Classification of euphemisms according to the thematical subdivision
| Religious euphemisms |
Excretory euphemisms |
Sexual euphemisms |
Euphemisms for job titles |
Euphemisms for death |
| Adonai (My Lord) |
Manure (work with the hands) |
Make love (sleep with) |
Sanitation engineer = janitor |
Fight a long battle with (death) |
| HaShem (the Name of God) |
Zoo Doo or Zoopoop (a brand of elephants manure) |
Affair, intimate relationship (sexual relationship) |
Transparent-wall maintenance officer = window cleaner |
Demise, end, destination, better world, afterlife (death) |
| He Who Must Not Be Named (Satan) |
To see a man about a dog (restroom) |
The Pill (methods of birth control) |
Diamond cutter = a job to mow the lawn at Yankee Stadium |
Pass away, pass on, expire, go to heaven (to die) |
| You – Know – Who (Satan) |
In the family way (pregnancy) |
Liaison (sexual relationship (illicit) |
Custodian = janitor |
Put down (animal euthanasia) |
| To powder one’s nose (bathroom) |
He valued his privacy (homosexual) |
Administrative assistant = secretory |
Left for the rats (death) |
|
| To have a bun in the oven (pregnancy) |
Cemetery operative = gravedigger |
Bent over the barrel (death) |
||
| Tired and emotional (drunk) |
Rodent officer = rat-catcher |
Screwed over (death) |