英语委婉语PPT

1. Introduction

Euphemism is originally from Greek, meaning, “speak with gook words”. “eu” means “well or sounding well”; “pheme” means “speech”. Its definition in Oxford English Dictionary is “(example of the) use of pleasant, mild, or indirect words or phrases in place of more accurate or direct ones.”[1]

The appearance of euphemism is based on two reasons: one aims to take the place of “taboo”. When giving up a taboo word, people will find another new one to take the place of it, which creates a euphemism. The other aims to avoid offensiveness during the communication. It is a figure of rhetoric by which an unpleasant or offensive thing is described or referred to by a milder term.

The following part will explain euphemism in detail from two aspects: the ways to express euphemism and its social functions

2. Ways to express euphemism

2.1. Figure of speech

2.1.1. Metonymy.

That is to use the general words to take the place of the concrete words. “Passed away” which refers to “dead” belongs to meto nymy. It can be divided into the following forms: 1) to use the container to take the place of the things in the container. For example: “to be fond of the bottle” is a euphemism for “liking to drink”. 2) To use the entirety instead of the part. For example: “abdomen” is used to refer to “belly”; “limb” refers to “leg”. For some special occasions, the part can be used instead of the entirety. In Australian English “an old hand” is a euphemism for “an old prisoner”. 3) To use the tools to take the place of t he objects. For example, “pick” is a tool of prying the lock. It can refer to “thief”. 4) To use raw materials to take the place of finished products. For instance, “poppy” is a kind of flower, but it also refers to “opium”. 5) To use characteristics to ta ke the place of objects. For example, “hellow” is a greeting word, and it is also a euphemism for “prostitute” because prostitutes often use this word to solicit the whoremasters; “blood and iron” is a euphemism for “violence”. 6) To use proper words to replace the objects. For example, “napoleon” is a French golden coin on which there is Napoleon’s head portrait. “Borstal” is a name of countryside in Kent in Britain. It can also refer to “juvenile delinquency”.

2.1.2. Metaphor

To use metaphor can ea sily avoid the offensive things. For example, “to be a guest of the law” is a euphemism for “to be in prison”[4],Many euphemisms for “death” were created by way of metaphor, such as going to his long home, to be home and free, to go to sleep, to sleep the long (or eternal, never-ending) sleep, to rest in peace, to be at rest, to go to Heaven (or Paradise), to join one’s ancestors, to be gathered to one’s fathers, to join the immortals. More examples are: aged→sunset years, to be poor→to be pinched, to ha ve improper sexual intercourse with girls(especially maiden) →to deflower; to degenerate→to go astray; breast→milk bottles; catamenia→the red flag; to be pregnant→to be on the nest; the money of bribery→grease; to bribe→to grease somebody’s palm; handcuffs→bracelets.

2.1.

3. Periphrasis

It is an expression of beating around the bush. Though it is a muddled acting, its aim is to avoid offending others, and to be more polite[6]. If someone asked a woman whether she was knitting a

tiny garment, he meant that he wondered whether she was pregnant. Such way of speaking is humorous, sweet and agreeable, to be pregnant→to eat for t wo. Teachers often use this expression to avoid the students’ and their parents’ awkwardness. For example, laziness is called “needing amp le supervision in order to work well”; “cheat” is described as “needing help in learning to adhere to rules and standards of fair play”; “lies” is called “showing difficulty in distinguishing between imaginary and factual material”; “steal” is called “need ing help in learning to respect the property rights of others”; “be a bully” refers to “having qualities of leadership but needs help in learning to use them democratically”; “dirty” is called “ be lack of proper health habits”.

2.2. Semantic method

2.2.1. Synonym

For example, “tight” is used instead of “stingy”; “mad” is replaced by “crazy”, “insane”, and “lunatic”. Such euphemism aims to use the appreciative term to take the place of the derogatory term.

2.2.2. Negation

Such euphemism uses the contrary term to express the same meaning, and it could be more useful than synonym in replacing the taboo and make people more understandable and comfortable. We could call stupid people unwise people. “A fat chance” means “a slim chance”. 2.2.3. Vague words and expressions

That is to make the harsher or offensive words more general. For example, if somebody has some mental problems, we can express it like this: His roof leaks a little; he has a screw loose/missing; he is not at home. There are other examples which use vague expressions, such as disease→trouble, problem; to come across an unfortunate thing→to have an accident; to live together illegally→to cohabit; a squint→an obliquity of vision; a man of bad taste→a man of doubtful taste; strike→industrial action; the poor→the underprivileged, the disadvan taged; in debt→in difficulties;to be killed→to be put to sleep.

2.3. The variety of spelling form

English is an alphabetic writing. The variation of phonetic form can avoid the original conception in a certain degree and achieve the purpose of euphemism. 1) Compounding: gezunda (goes under沉落、沉没；失败破产). 2) Acronym: DA (drug addict), J.D (juvenile delinquent).

3 The Social Functions of Euphemism

Euphemism is widely used in America and Britain. It has a long history. New euphemisms emerge in an endless stream. Its functions, can be divided into three parts: Avoidance, Courtesy and Disguise. Through studying the three functions, we can understand the western society’s view on value and morality.

3.1. Avoidance

The earliest subject of Euphemism is religious. The conception of taboo is deep-rooted in people’s mind, and it is not easy to remove. Because fearing of the secret power of God, People use euphemism to avoid mentioning the guilty, unpleasant, rude or offensive words, which plays a role of purifying languages. For example, European Americans avoid speaking “Friday” and “13”. When the two things appear in the same day, it is an ill omen. This avoidance function is the first communication function of euphemisms[13]. Such function is often used in the following situations:

3.1.1. The euphemisms for God and devil

In oral English, using “God” causally would be considered blasphmous. They usually adopt semantic methods to refer to God, such as the Creator, the Maker, the Supreme (Being), Holy One, the Almighty, the Eternal, Our Father, the Light of the World, Sovereign of the Universe. There are many euphemisms for “the devil”, such as old enemy, old Ned, Old Nick, Old One, Ole’un (Old Man), Old Scratch, Old Serpe nt, the Old Boy etc. For example, “He was frightened as if Old Harry were before him.” In English they often use “heck” instead of “hell”. “hell” has other expressions: “the other place, a very uncomfortable place, the other way etc.” For example, “We were all going direct to Heaven; we were all going direct the other way.” [15]

3.1.2 The euphemisms for death

Euphemism is often caused in speaking of things that are painful and distressing to think about. Death is one of expressions. The euphemisms for death are a widely used item, especially when it concerns one’s own families and friends. It has a lot of expressions[16]. For example, if anything should happen to me (= when I die); to pass away/ on; to depart; to go to sleep; to be no longer with us; to be i nterred. “Death” also has some humorous expressions: “to pop off; to push up daisies; to cash in one’s chips; to kick the bucket ”. “Death” also has an intimate relationship with religion. There are many euphemisms from Bible, for example, to return to dust/ earth; to pay the debt of nature; to be called to God/ to answer the final summons; to go to heaven; to be at peace, to be asleep in the Arms of God; to yield up the ghost; to launch into eternity; to have one’s name inscribed in the Book of life etc. S ome words, which concern “death”, also have euphemistic expressions. For example, “coffin” is called “casket”; “dead body” is called “earthly remains”; “funeral” is called “memorial service”; “graveyard” is called “memory garden”.

3.1.3. The euphemisms for illness, natural and man-made calamities

Most westerners avoid talking about some serious diseases. For instance, “terminally ill” is a euphemism for “cancer”. “tumour” is called “a growth”; “commit suicide” is called

“self-deliverance or self-violenc e”. People often use initialing to avoid talk about some diseases directly, such as AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome); Big C (Cancer) etc.

3.1.

4. The euphemisms for birth

Contrary to the Chinese traditional opinion, in western countries, “being pregnant” and “having a baby” are not considered “a blessed event”. In America, “to wear the apron high”, “to wear/have the belly high” are euphemisms for “to be pregnant”, while in Britain, “to wear the bustle wrong” is a euphemism for “to be pregnant”. Some one even called “to be pregnant” “to be caught” or “to be fallen”. Some vague expressions also show a kind of restless mood, such as: that way, in a certain/particular/delicate condition etc.

3.2. Courtesy

Another reason to use euphemism is that it avoids the harsh and direct word in a polite way, and makes the sentence sound more pleasant. To grasp the polite function of euphemism can help you build a good relationship with others. The polite functions are especially reflected in the occupations, or trades. It relate with Politeness Principle of Leech[17]. It is obvious that

advertisement is aimed at helping businessmen propaganda their goods, for the sake of soliciting customs. As a pleasant way, using euphemisms in advertisements has become more and more widespread. Now, “secondhand store” has been replaced by “resale store”, “super”, “giant”, “special”, such words, have become more popular. Moreover, we can often see the same phenomenon about the expressions for classes of cabins. To defend pas sengers ’honor, “First Class” is changed to “Deluxe Class”, “Second Class” is to “First Class”, “Third Class” to “Business Class”, and “Economic Class” to “Tourist Class”. This function undoubtly plays an active role of improving the progress of society:

3.3. Disguise

Opposite to the positive influences of euphemism, there are some euphemisms which can bring about negative influences. which are embodied in the following two aspects according to its concealing function:

3.3.1. The euphemisms for the requirements of politics and war.

Because of the requirements of politics and war, the British and American politicians used some euphemisms to conceal the internal truth, and cheat the public. For example, American and British people name “riot” as “disturbance” or “disorder”; “strike” is called “walk-out, down tools, industrial action or industrial dispute”; “economic crises” is called “recession” or “depression”. In the aspect of military affair, “the number of the dead” is called “body count”; “aggression” i s called “pre-emptive action” or “involvement”. American media called their invasion to Haiti by their marines “an incident”, called the investigation of American airplanes in Russian territorial air space “an over flight”. We can see the concealing functi on of euphemisms becomes the needs of the struggle, the tool of cheating people.

3.4. The countries’ names as euphemism

In English, there is another special euphemistic expression. That is to use other countries’ names instead of some harsher or more offensive words. The appearance of these euphemisms is mostly because of the historic and cultural reasons. For instance, because French had ruled Britain, British people like to make fun of the French. They called “syphilis” “the French disease”. In 17th century, the war between Britain and Dutch also led to a lot of anti-Dutch words, including euphemisms. “Prostitute” is called “Dutch widow”; “commit suicide” is called “Dutch act/cure”; “Dutch cheer” is a euphemism for “liquor”. Besides French and Dutch, Britain also makes fun of other countries. “Russian roulette” is a euphemism for “to intend to commit suicide”; “Mexican raise. Irish promotion” means “to be dismissed”; “Egyptian physical training” means “to sleep at daytime”. In a word, the British and t he American relate a lot of offensive things with other countries’ names.

4. Conclusion

Euphemism appears with a different appearance, and exerts a subtle influence on exposing the truth. That is to use the neutral or pleasant words to express some awkward or offensive contents. As English learners, we should not only pay attention to its application on appropriate occasions, but to its influences. Its active functions can coordinate the interpersonal relationships, release the contradictions and avoid the conflicts. The negative functions are to confound right and wrong, beautify the shameful behaviors and conceal the essence. Language itself has not the class

character, but different people, political parties and countries can consider it a tool to serve for them. That is why someone named euphemisms as “comfortable words” or “cosmetic words”. In daily life, we should pay attention to the influences that the active and negative functions of euphemisms bring us, and keep the negative functions from corrupting our thoughts.