There are also some other political euphemisms used to cover the political scandals. For example, “lie” is referred to as “less than truthful, prevaricate, inoperative”; “illegal” is referred to as “inappropriate” There are a lot of euphemisms produced during the “Watergate scandal” about president Nixon in America of 20th century 1970s.For instance, “plumber” is referred to as “intelligence-stealer”, “eavesdrop” as “intelligence-gathering”, “the scheme of eavesdrop” as “scenario”, and even “the scandal” became “event”.
In modern society， social problems are numerous，so it is with China. To reassure and pacify the public，the government just makes such remarks as “我们绝大多数党员干部是廉洁自律的，这样的人在我们的干部队伍中只是极少数，问题是有的，但成绩是主要的，主流是好的” etc. For diplomatic talks，we have such remarks as “双方进行了建设性的会谈，双方就共同关心的问题坦率地交换了意见，总之，双方的会谈是有益的和富有建设性的”etc. All these indicate that both sides are quite far from reaching agreement concerning certain issues. These vague remarks just conceal the fact of truth and serve certain political purpose.
Political euphemism also has positive function. In internal aspect, the use of political euphemism is embodied in the talk between different parties. The proper political euphemisms can enhance the friendly relationship and keep a friendly atmosphere. Taiwan problem is a typical example of this kind. In October,1995,when chairman Jiang Zemin was interviewed by the American journalists, he said that, “我们一贯主张和平统一, ‘一国两制’,但是如果台湾岛内分裂主义势力搞 ‘台湾独立’我们不排除采取非和平手段的可能性.”The “Anti-secession Law” passed in 2005,also emphasizes that “必要时将通过’非和平手段’来确保国家的领土完整.” Here, “非和平手段”(non-peaceful means) in fact is referred to “war”. The use of these two political euphemisms of “不排除采取非和平手段的可能性” and “必要时将通过’非和平手段’” reflect that the government of China tried their best to consolidate the whole country through peaceful way.
2.1.2 International aspect
In the case of international aspect, the cosmetic euphemisms also can be easily found in political and military activities. For instance, “lie” is referred to as “terminological inexactitude”; “aggression” as “pre-emptive action” or “police action”; “retreat and tout” as “phased withdrawal”; “admit defeat” as “concede the victory to”; “concentration camps” as “strategic villages” or “hamlets”; “bombing and blasting of whole villages” as “pacification of the enemy infrastructure” or “softening up of enemy resistance” or “give massive air support”. The euphemisms here are in the true sense of the word “false.” They are used to cover up the true nature of events, deceiving the public with nice-sounding and pseudo-technical words.
Political euphemisms used in military activity come into being with the war. Politicians in the western countries call the invasive war used to transfer the internal contradiction as “preventive war” or “international armed conflict”; “defeat” as “strategic withdrawal”; “the refugee tide ”during the war as “transfer of population”.
The military activity of the allied forces of the USA and Britain in Iraq also produced many political euphemisms. The moment of starting the war was called as “moment of truth”; the slogan of this action was “Iraqi Freedom”; the illegal and inhuman aggression become “liberation”; “bombing” was called as “ a target of opportunity,” that is, a target of the Iraqi leadership, which really means “random bombing”.
Government discussion of the Vietnam War was saturated with euphemisms. Villagers were burned and the inhabitants imprisoned-that were ‘pacifications’; saturation bombing with B-525 was ‘ordnance delivery’，destroying crops was ‘defoliation’; the war itself was not a war but a ‘conflict’. These euphemisms form a framework to deceive，to hide the dirty business of war. And examples are everywhere: in 1983，after the U.S. sent its armed forces into Grenada，Reagan showed his irritation with reporters at their ‘frequent use of the word invasion. ‘This’, he said，‘was a rescue mission.’ Actually， it was Reagan himself who had first called it an invasion. In 1999，the U.S. government bombed Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia on purpose，but to conceal their guilt，they called the bombing ‘friendly fires’ and so on.
Sometimes, the invader even uses the cosmetic function of euphemisms to shirk one’s responsibility and keep themselves from being censured by the international public opinion. For example, the Japanese government was unwilling to admit its heinous crime in front of its civilians after its surrender in the World War Two. It even distorts the history. In its history textbooks, “invade China” is misrepresented as “enter the mainland”, “massive killing in Nanjing city” which shocked the whole world was called as “occupy Nanjing city”. In the end of 20th century, NATO, in order to speed up the process of “the plan of eastward”, taking the Kosovo Crisis as an excuse, bombed Yugoslavia heavily, which last over two months. The unscrupulous bombing brought the Yugoslavians the material and mental loss. When countries all over the world blamed the NATO’s “robbery action”, in order to escape from it, NATO called the war as “humanitarian intervention”. The American Defense Minister WillianCohen denied the war against Yugoslavia on the News Release Meeting, and said euphemistically that, “We are certainly engaged in ‘hostilities’; we are engaged in ‘combat’. “American Secretary of state Madeleine Albright even called the “continuous bombing” of NATO against Yugoslavia as “NATO’s operation”, so that they could take the easier way to talk about the situation of Yugoslavia concerned by people all over the world.[7]
In international aspect, there are also some examples, which reflect the positive function of the political euphemisms. For instance, “the developing country” is referred to “the poor country” to avoid the problem of un-development and show the politeness, which is good for the cooperation between the countries all over the world. Another example, when different political systems are referred, people often use “the eastern countries “to refer to the socialist countries, such as China, and “the western countries” to the capitalist countries, such as America, so as to soften and avoid the conflict, and keep a harmonious atmosphere between the countries.
We can also see the use of political euphemisms used for politeness from the reports about “Nuclear Weapon Problem in Korean Peninsula”. The speaker of American White House Steve McClaren once emphasized on a News Release Meeting that, “the America’s attitude would never be changed, that is, we will continue to look for diplomatic resolution cooperating with the neighbor countries of Korean, but at the same time, we still keep all the other optional plans.” Richard Perle, the high-grade consultant of American Defense Department, who was visiting Moscow at that time, when he was interviewed by the local TV program about Nuclear Weapon Problem in Korean Peninsula, he said, “I don’t think (America) would solve the problem through use of force, but no one can ensure that it is impossible to use force. We are making our endeavor to solve the problem, and are trying to make Korean stop its nuclear plan without considering using force.” In face of America’s beating around the bush, Korean relied that, “If America attack Korean, Korean people army certainly will give the American army ‘the ruthless punishment’.” In the diplomatic speech, although the two side opposed each other with equal harshness, expressed each other’s firm attitude, they still tried to avoid talking about “war” directly, so that they can remain the room for peace solution through political and diplomatic devices, so as not to be fallen into the passive situation.[8]
From all the examples above, we can conclude that there are two main features of the communication of political euphemisms.
(1) To disguise: The use of such political euphemisms helps government beautify the fact，and prevents people from taking any anti-government action. These euphemisms form a framework to deceive，to hide the dirty business of war.
(2) To be polite: It was used to maintain the friendly relations, which are required for smooth and effective communication. The purpose of social interaction is to promote the friendship between the speakers and therefore，every time when one speaks，he has to consider whether what he says is likely to maintain，improve，or damage the friendship.
3. Rhetorical application of political euphemism
Political euphemism, as an important type of euphemism, also uses the rhetorical devices to make the communication effectively. [9] People often use the following rhetorical devices:
3.1 The use of understatement
The feature of understatement is that the speech of it touches the essence of the matter in a very little degree, so that people who don’t know the truth or the implication can’t feel the seriousness of the matter. Political euphemisms often use the rhetoric device of understatement. There are many examples of this kind. For example, “poor” is a dreadful word both in English and Chinese, it means the life is in a difficult position, and indicates the low social position. It also indicates the governmental inability to solve social and economic problems. In order to cover up it and make the poverty problem seem to be not so serious, government call “poor” as “needy or disadvantaged”, call the “slum” as “substandard housing”, “slum children” as “the culturally different children”, and “ghetto” is referred to as “inner city”. In English, there are not poor nations or poor countries, but only backward nations, underdeveloped nations, developing nations and emerging nations. The UN calls those poor countries as “less-developed nations or countries.”
In the international political affairs, especially in the military field, there are more examples of this kind, which are used to cover the essence of some dirty matters. For example, Ministry of Defense, in fact, is Ministry of War. American government once uses “Operation Sunshine” to cover its heinous crime that they took the experiment of hydrogen bullet in the Pacific Ocean. During the war of Gulf war, American use “air operation” and “ground operation” instead of “air strike” and “ground war”, as a result, people couldn’t feel about the terribleness and cruelness of the war from the words directly.
3.2. The use of periphrasis
Periphrasis usually uses long phrases or sentences to make the listener’s attention far from the topic. Politicians often use some longer words to express their ideas. Because when people want to disguise some facts, they often take a roundabout way of talk. Then they must use more words. Expressions in political issues are usually made by longer and more words or phrases. The typical example of this kind is the different expressions of the “War Syndrome” in three different periods. In World War One, it was “shell shock”; in World War Two, it became “combat fatigue”; while in 20th century 1960s the phrase became Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, used to describe the panic of the order soldiers of Vietnam War. We can’t see anything related to war at all from the phrases. There are some other examples: in official English, government use “in the early state of finalization” instead of “not yet finished”; “be economical with truth” instead of “withhold the truth”; “Higher Education Contribution Scheme” instead of “Educational Levy”. And “fire” is said as “give the sack”, “imprisonment” can be called as “live at the government’s expense”, “poor” is “economically disadvantaged individuals”, “weapon equipment development” is called as “reconnaissance forces sweeping”, “drop” as “adjustment downward”.
3.3. The use of irony
Irony is a figure of speech in which the meaning literally expressed is the opposite of the meaning indicated and aims at humor or sarcasm and avoids hurting others by direct expressions. That is to say irony is what we said is the opposite of what we meant. Through irony, letting the listener guess and gradually understand what the speaker really intend to do, we can avoid to make the listener embarrassed. Through it, we cannot only cover what is not convenient to say directly, but also increases the humor. For example:
Nixon’s proposals have been hailed as wound if not original. But this appraisal of his own stewardship sometimes seems more generous than candid.
The word “generous” is originally used as a commendatory word to praise somebody. Its using here has the effect of irony, which intends to criticize that the president exaggerated something and was not modest. [10]
4. Conclusion
The present paper has focused on the political euphemism used in internal and international aspects and its rhetorical application. It would be a beneficial guide for the language learners to understand the culture and the psychologies. In addition，only when learning what topics or subjects are required to be euphemistically described，can we avoid being misunderstood in dealing with diplomatic affairs. Nowadays, more and more people pay attention to the research on political euphemism. By studying political euphemism, we can not only enlarge our knowledge, but also grasp the social psychology of the user using political euphemisms, and then understand and use it properly.
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