4. Calcification of English euphemisms
English euphemisms involves in almost every field of life. This paper tries to classify them according to the content.
4.1In the field of daily life
4.1.1 About old age
It is natural for people to experience adult, middle age, old age and death. But to westerners, old age means worthless and the old will be looked down upon or even deserted. So no one admits that he is old. People dread about old age so much that they see the word “old” as a taboo. Thus, they try their best to borrow other words to express it, e.g.: “the advanced in age”, “the mature”, “the longer living”, “seasoned man”, “senior citizens”, etc. In short, western nations have “senior citizens” or “the longer lived” but no “old age”.
4.1.2 About unemployment and poverty
Unemployment is still a big social problem in western countries. It is so dreaded that it almost makes people become shivering when they think of it, particularly during periods of economic crisis. And once you are out of work, poverty is the inevitable result. Who likes to live a poor life? Thus, unemployment has become a hot topic in political competition. Nearly every candidate looks on the low unemployment rate as one of his or her trumps to win. More and more people get used to be considerate when they want to mention unemployment and poverty. As a result, many vague expressions or words are created to replace them. For example, when the boss wanted to dismiss John, he was “laid off”, “eased out” or “given the walking ticket” and he became a “lay-off worker”. At first he was “out of pocket” and “lived in reduced circumstances (penniless)”, then he “lived in difficulties (in debt)”, later he had no choice but to “move into a sub-standard housing (slums)”. Besides, “The poor” is “the have-nots”, “the underprivileged” or “the disadvantaged”. And there are no poor countries in the world for they are replaced by “developing nations” or “emerging nations”. When these euphemisms are heard from the people, they are used to soften harsh reality, but when governments use them, they are changed into deceiving words.
4.1.3 About menial jobs and professions
There are many people who undertake humble jobs that are looked down upon by the public. For the sake of politeness, people use upgrading euphemisms to “uplift” these jobs by name, not by status. Examples:
(32) Mary always turns to her uncle when there is something wrong with her shoes for he is a shoe rebuilder.
(33) Supervisors are strict and mean to workers.
(34) The main work of tree surgeons is to make good of trees.
(35) We need a pipe engineer because the pipe in our kitchen is dripping.
In the above sentences, “cobbler”, “foremen”, “tree trimmers” and “plumber” are replaced respectively by “shoe rebuilder”, “supervisors”, “tree surgeons” and “pipe engineer”. And “hair dresser” is substituted by “beautician or hairstylist”; “floor-sweeper” is replaced by “custodian engineer”; “hire girl” is spoken as “domestic engineer”; “rat-catcher” is substituted by “pest control operator”; “washwoman” is replaced by “clothes refresher”, and so on. All these words are used for the same purpose: to avoid offending people with humble jobs. The usage of occupational euphemisms reflects a sense of inferiority as well as a striving for “better things”.
4.1.4 About menstruation
The desire to escape from unpleasant feelings brings out many euphemisms on excretion of women. Menstruation euphemism is one of them. Such as “to have a visitor”; “my friend has come”; and so on. All of these euphemisms are used to avoid the feeling of embarrassment and distaste.
4.2 In the field of education
Teachers have to make comments on students. When they want to point out shortcomings or bad behavior of students, they often use roundabout ways in order not to hurt students and their parents. The following are some mostly used euphemisms in this field and their real meanings.
“(36) The student is obtuse. ---The student is a bit slow for his age. The students seems to be mentally retarded.
(37) He has failed (flunked) a major course. ---I’m sorry to find him an underachiever for a major subject.
(38) The student is lazy. --- The student needs to raise his ambition a bit. I’m afraid the student has to exert himself in his study. He is sure to go far if he can use his resources fully. He’ll go somewhere if he is highly motivated.
(39) The student is noisy. ---He needs to develop quieter habits of communication.
(40) The student is a bully. --- He needs help in learning to use is leadership qualities democratically
(41) He lies. ---He has difficulty in distinguishing between imaginary and factual information.
(42) The student cheats. ---He needs help in learning to respect the property right of others.
(43) The student must mend his way. –He needs to be brought back into the mainstream.”[19]
4.3 In the field of law
Since crimes are tabooed in many social situations, people create a large number of euphemisms to replace them. Here is a list of crimes and their corresponding euphemisms.
Crimes Euphemisms
crooked, fraudulent free-wheeling
thief five fingers, a dip, a fork
violence action
murder take care of
prostitute brass, daughter of eve
heroin Big Harry
opium black stuff
4.4 In the field of politics
Politics is one of the fertile fields for the growth of euphemisms. With euphemisms, politicians always justify their actions and beautify the harsh realities for some certain purposes. Only when the public believes that the society under their lead has become better, can their political life survives. The list of such kind of euphemisms is endless, e.g.: “economic crisis” is replaced by “depression” or “recession”; “strike” is said to be “industrial action”; “aggression” is spoken as “preemptive action”, “police action” or “anti-terrorist action”; “civilian casualties” is substituted by “collateral damage”; “killing of citizens” is euphemized as “wasting the enemy”; “concentration camps” is replaced by “strategic villages or hamlets”; “retreat” is said to be “strategic withdrawal”; “ground war” is spoken as “ground operation”; etc. “This kind of euphemisms is used to cover up the true nature of some political events, misleading the public with pleasant and sweet words.”[20]
4.5 In the field of commerce and industry
Euphemisms can also be seen in the area of commerce and industry. Example:
(44) John was out of game and he jumped from the 20th floor of a building out of desperation.
(45) She is a negative saver for she always buys something expensive but unnecessary so she has to borrow money from others at the end of each month.
In the above sentences, “bankrupt” and “over spender” are substituted by “out of game” and “negative saver”.
Some companies are not large enough to be called large companies, but they don’t want to use “fairly large” to describe themselves for the sense of dignity. So “substantial” is employed to replace “fairly large”, in the euphemistic expression “a substantial and well-diversified group companies”. In this field, “small” is regarded as a taboo word too, so people use many nice-sounding words to substitute it. In Europe “a compact” is equal to “a small car”. And “a subcompact” means “a type of very small and inexpensive car”. As it is inexpensive, it is attractive to people. Sometimes “small” is replaced by “intimate” or “limited”. As everybody knows, “an intimate gathering” is usually “a small gathering”. “cheap” is another taboo word. People don’t like to use the word “cheap”. Instead, they use its euphemisms, such as “low-cost”, “realistically priced”, or “economy priced”. In order to attract customers, shopkeepers use “premium-priced” to describe “expensive”. So, “premium-priced Scotches” in fact is “the most expensive Scotches”.
5. The social function of English euphemisms
5.1 For evasion
Since death is inevitable, it has become the fear of all human being. In early time, people seldom mentioned death directly because they were superstitious about it. They believed that death was a devil that can hear human’s voice. So if you speak of it, it will appear. Thus, there were many euphemisms about the word “die” such as “breathe one’s last” and “join the majority”.
Disease is another fear of man. In primitive society, as the level of medicine was very low, people scarcely survived when they got sick. To them, disease was as dreadful as death. So they didn’t speak it directly either. In modern society, although many diseases can be cured, people are still afraid of them. On the one hand, the patient suffers a lot from it; on the other hand, the expense is a heavy burden to the family especially the poor. The common result is that the patient regains his health but the whole family has to live a poor life for many years or even all their lives. Thus, people usually use euphemistic words when they mention the names of disease. For example, the “Big C” replaces “cancer” and “AIDS” substitutes “acquired immune deficiency syndrome”.
In Chinese people’ eyes, westerners are quite open-minded. But this does not mean that they talk about all the words related to sex freely. “Except for some medical terms in a special situation, they may use euphemistic words to talk about it”[21]. Such as, “to have sex” and “to make love”. Words about the birth are also seldom mentioned directly because they make people think of sex. When a woman is pregnant, she is described as “to have one watermelon on the vine”; “in a particular condition”; “to have one on the way”, etc.
5.2 For politeness
The Pursuit of beauty is the nature of human being. Beauty helps one feel confident while ugliness makes one have a sense of inferiority. So it is impolite even offensive to say someone is ugly directly. When people want to express someone is ugly, they usually say “He is plain looking” or “She is not pretty”, etc. With the improvement of living standard, more and more people have a weight problem. Various products of losing weight flood into the market for being too fat is not only a problem of appearance but also a problem of health. Obesity brings inconvenience as well as the risk of many diseases. Therefore, there are a lot of euphemisms about fatness like “plump”, “chubby” or “tubby”, etc. “Skinny” is another unpleasant word. No one likes to be described as “skinny”, but they will be really pleased when they hear others describe them as “slim” or “slender”.
The disabled need help and protection but they are sensitive, too. So people have to choose their words carefully when they talk about them. Many euphemistic words are designed to avoid mentioning the handicapped. “deaf” is replaced by “hard of hearing”; “cripple” is euphemized as “the inconvenienced”, and so on..
5.3For elegance
Excrement is a disgusting topic in polite conversation. They are avoided by means of euphemisms. “Defecation” refers to one of the sickest elements in the world. When you go to see a doctor for a stomach upset, the doctor will ask you, “How is your bowel movement?” And if he wants to have a further examination, he will need a specimen of your manure. If someone rounds his thumb and index finger up to form the letter “C” with other fingers stretching out, he wants to go to W.C. There are other expressions having the same meaning, like “to sing a song”, “to see the moon”, “answer the nature’s call”, “do one’s business” or simply “ Excuse me”.
Some parts of body are associated with sex, so they are avoided being said directly. This generates a large number of euphemisms. “big brow eyes”, “bust” or “coconuts” refers to female’s breasts; “naturals”, “affair” or “tails” suggest sex organs of human being, etc. Like parts of body, nakedness is a taboo out of embarrassment or shame. According to the Bible, Adam and Eve ate the wise fruit, found themselves naked and felt very ashamed. They hid themselves behind the bush when the Lord came to see them. Then they used fig leaves to cover important parts of their bodies. This story demonstrates that “nakedness” has been a taboo for a long time. There are many euphemistic words about nakedness, like “altogether” and “in one’s birthday suit”. Once a man was bathing without locking his door, one of his friends rushed into his room for emergency and found he was naked. They both felt embarrassed. Then the man with nothing on said, “You are the one besides my mother who has seen I am in my birthday suit”. Both of them immediately burst into laughter.
5.4For disguise
Everything has merits and demerits, and euphemism is not the exception. “One of the characteristics of euphemisms is its vagueness.”[22] So they are employed to conceal harsh and unpleasant things in communications, creating a harmony environment. But it is this special feature that creates chances for politicians and businessmen to make use of euphemisms to achieve their selfish goals.
Politicians are famous for their ability to play words. They can even turn facts upside down. They try their effort to persuade people that they live a better life under their leadership thereby to get support and hold their positions. One of the effective methods they use is the usage of euphemisms. Therefore, many euphemisms about politics can be seen. For example, “logistical strikes” is for “bombing attacks”; “defoliation” is for “destroying crops”, and so on.
If you want to survive the sharp commercial competition, you have to keep alert and attract customers, the sources of benefits, by means of advertisements. Euphemism is a common but successful way used in commercial advertisements, for it seems that everybody prefers compliments and praise to harsh and upsetting truth. Airline companies are experts in using euphemisms. They call the first-class “deluxe class”, the second-class becomes “first-class” and the third-class is “economic class”, “business class” or “tourist class”. In this case, passengers in the third-class will not feel inferior and don’t lose their faces when they tell others they take the “economic class”, and passengers in other classes are uplifted at the same time.
Euphemism that functions as disguise is a kind of deceit for they cover up the fact of matters.
6. Conclusion
The emergence of euphemisms is closely related to language taboos and religion. Euphemisms are formed through various devices like phonetic devices, spelling devices, vocabulary devices, grammatical devices and rhetorical devices. Euphemisms are now used in almost all fields of life such as in daily life, in the field of education, etc. They perform the function of evasion when they are used to replace taboos. Besides evasion, they are employed for politeness, elegance and disguise. Since euphemisms play an important role in language, it is a good way for English learners to improve their English study by learning and employing English euphemisms.
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浅谈身势语-A Brief Discussion on Body Language
从合作原则看英语委婉语的使用