Euphemism is a word or phrase

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A euphemism () is an innocuous word or expression used in place of one that is deemed offensive or suggests something unpleasant.^[1] Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the user wishes to downplay. Euphemisms may be used to mask profanity or refer to topics some consider taboo such as disability, sex, excretion, or death in a polite way.^[2]

Etymology[edit]

Euphemism comes from the Greek word euphemia (εὐφημία) which refers to the use of ‘words of good omen’; it is a compound of eû (εὖ), meaning ‘good, well’, and phḗmē (φήμη), meaning ‘prophetic speech; rumour, talk’.^[3] Eupheme is a reference to the female Greek spirit of words of praise and positivity, etc. The term euphemism itself was used as a euphemism by the ancient Greeks; with the meaning «to keep a holy silence» (speaking well by not speaking at all).^[4]

Purpose[edit]

Avoidance[edit]

Reasons for using euphemisms vary by context and intent. Commonly, euphemisms are used to avoid directly addressing subjects that might be deemed negative or embarrassing, e.g. death, sex, excretory bodily functions. They may be created for innocent, well-intentioned purposes or nefariously and cynically, intentionally to deceive and confuse.

Mitigation[edit]

Euphemisms are also used to mitigate, soften or downplay the gravity of large-scale injustices, war crimes, or other events that warrant a pattern of avoidance in official statements or documents. For instance, one reason for the comparative scarcity of written evidence documenting the exterminations at Auschwitz, relative to their sheer number, is «directives for the extermination process obscured in bureaucratic euphemisms».^[5] Another famous example of this is during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Russian President Vladimir Putin famously used in his speech starting the invasion calling the invasion a «special military operation».^[6]

Euphemisms are sometimes used to lessen the opposition to a political move. For example, according to linguist Ghil’ad Zuckermann, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used the neutral Hebrew lexical item פעימות peimót («beatings (of the heart)»), rather than נסיגה nesigá («withdrawal»), to refer to the stages in the Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank (see Wye River Memorandum), in order to lessen the opposition of right-wing Israelis to such a move.^[7]: 181 The lexical item פעימות peimót, which literally means «beatings (of the heart)» is thus a euphemism for «withdrawal».^[7]: 181

Rhetoric[edit]

Euphemism may be used as a rhetorical strategy, in which case its goal is to change the valence of a description.^{[clarification needed]}

Controversial use[edit]

The act of labeling a term as a euphemism can in itself be controversial, as in the following two examples:

• Affirmative action, meaning a preference for minorities or the historically disadvantaged, usually in employment or academic admissions. This term is sometimes said to be a euphemism for reverse discrimination, or, in the UK, positive discrimination, which suggests an intentional bias that might be legally prohibited, or otherwise unpalatable.^[8]
• Enhanced interrogation is a euphemism for torture. For example, columnist David Brooks called the use of this term for practices at Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo, and elsewhere an effort to «dull the moral sensibility».^[9]

Formation methods[edit]

Phonetic modification[edit]

Phonetic euphemism is used to replace profanities and blasphemies, diminishing their intensity. Modifications include:

• Shortening or «clipping» the term, such as Jeez (Jesus) and what the— («what the hell»).
• Mispronunciations, such as oh my gosh («oh my God»), frickin («fucking»), darn («damn») or oh shoot («oh shit»). This is also referred to as a minced oath.
• Using acronyms as replacements, such as SOB («son of a bitch»). Sometimes, the word «word» or «bomb» is added after it, such as F-word («fuck»), etc. Also, the letter can be phonetically respelled.

Pronunciation[edit]

To alter the pronunciation or spelling of a taboo word (such as a swear word) to form a euphemism is known as taboo deformation, or a minced oath. Feck is a minced oath originating in Hiberno-English and popularised outside of Ireland by the British sitcom Father Ted. Some examples of Cockney rhyming slang may serve the same purpose: to call a person a berk sounds less offensive than to call a person a cunt, though berk is short for Berkeley Hunt,^[10] which rhymes with cunt.^[11]

Understatement[edit]

Euphemisms formed from understatements include: asleep for dead and drinking for consuming alcohol. «Tired and emotional» is a notorious British euphemism for «drunk», one of many recurring jokes popularised by the satirical magazine Private Eye; it has been used by MPs to avoid unparliamentary language.

Substitution[edit]

Pleasant, positive, worthy, neutral, or nondescript terms are often substituted for explicit or unpleasant ones, with many substituted terms deliberately coined by sociopolitical movements, marketing, public relations, or advertising initiatives, including:

• «meat packing company» for «slaughter-house» (avoids entirely the subject of killing); «natural issue» or «love child» for «bastard»; «let go» for «fired», etc.

Over time, it becomes socially unacceptable to use the latter word,^{[citation needed]} as one is effectively downgrading the matter concerned to its former lower status, and the euphemism becomes dominant, due to a wish not to offend; see euphemism treadmill.

Metaphor[edit]

• Metaphors (beat the meat, choke the chicken, or jerkin’ the gherkin for masturbation; take a dump and take a leak for defecation and urination, respectively)
• Comparisons (buns for buttocks, weed for cannabis)
• Metonymy (men’s room for «men’s toilet»)

Slang[edit]

The use of a term with a softer connotation, though it shares the same meaning. For instance, screwed up is a euphemism for fucked up; hook-up and laid are euphemisms for sexual intercourse.

Foreign words[edit]

Expressions or words from a foreign language may be imported for use as euphemism. For example, the French word enceinte was sometimes used instead of the English word pregnant;^[12] abattoir for «slaughter-house», although in French the word retains its explicit violent meaning «a place for beating down», conveniently lost on non-French speakers. «Entrepreneur» for «business-man», adds glamour; «douche» (French: shower) for vaginal irrigation device; «bidet» (French: little pony) for «vessel for intimate ablutions». Ironically, although in English physical «handicaps» are almost always described with euphemism, in French the English word «handicap» is used as a euphemism for their problematic words «infirmité» or «invalidité».^{[citation needed]}

Periphrasis/circumlocution[edit]

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.

Doublespeak[edit]

Bureaucracies frequently spawn euphemisms intentionally, as doublespeak expressions. For example, in the past, the US military used the term «sunshine units» for contamination by radioactive isotopes.^[13] Into the present,^{[when?][citation needed]} the United States Central Intelligence Agency refers to systematic torture as «enhanced interrogation techniques».^[14] An effective death sentence in the Soviet Union during the Great Purge often used the clause «imprisonment without right to correspondence»: the person sentenced would be shot soon after conviction.^[15] As early as 1939, Nazi official Reinhard Heydrich used the term Sonderbehandlung («special treatment») to mean summary execution of persons viewed as «disciplinary problems» by the Nazis even before commencing the systematic extermination of the Jews. Heinrich Himmler, aware that the word had come to be known to mean murder, replaced that euphemism with one in which Jews would be «guided» (to their deaths) through the slave-labor and extermination camps^[16] after having been «evacuated» to their doom. Such was part of the formulation of Endlösung der Judenfrage (the «Final Solution to the Jewish Question»), which became known to the outside world during the Nuremberg Trials.^[17]

Lifespan[edit]

Frequently, over time, euphemisms themselves become taboo words, through the linguistic process of semantic change known as pejoration, which University of Oregon linguist Sharon Henderson Taylor dubbed the «euphemism cycle» in 1974,^[18] also frequently referred to as the «euphemism treadmill«. For instance, the act of human defecation is possibly the most needy candidate for a euphemism in all eras. Toilet is an 18th-century euphemism, replacing the older euphemism house-of-office, which in turn replaced the even older euphemisms privy-house and bog-house.^[19] In the 20th century, where the old euphemisms lavatory (a place where one washes) or toilet (a place where one dresses^[20]) had grown from widespread usage (e.g., in the United States) to being synonymous with the crude act they sought to deflect, they were sometimes replaced with bathroom (a place where one bathes), washroom (a place where one washes), or restroom (a place where one rests) or even by the extreme form powder room (a place where one applies facial cosmetics). The form water closet, which in turn became euphemised to W.C., is a less deflective form.^{[citation needed]}

Another example in American English is the replacement of «colored people» with «Negro» (euphemism by foreign language), which itself came to be replaced by either «African American» or «Black».^[21] Also in the United States the term «ethnic minorities» in the 2010s has been replaced by people of color.^[22]

Venereal disease, which associated shameful bacterial infection with a seemingly worthy ailment emanating from Venus the goddess of love, soon lost its deflective force in the post-classical education era, as «VD», which was replaced by the three-letter initialism «STD» (sexually transmitted disease); later, «STD» was replaced by «STI» (sexually transmitted infection).^[23]

The word shit appears to have originally been a euphemism for defecation in Pre-Germanic, as the Proto-Indo-European root *sḱeyd-, from which it was derived, meant ‘to cut off’.^[24]

Mentally disabled people were originally defined with words such as «morons» or «imbeciles», which then became commonly used insults. The medical diagnosis was changed to «mentally retarded», which morphed into a pejorative against those with mental disabilities. To avoid the negative connotations of their diagnoses, students who need accommodations because of such conditions are often labeled as «special needs» instead, although the word «special» has begun to crop up as a schoolyard insult.^{[25][better source needed]} As of August 2013, the Social Security Administration replaced the term «mental retardation» with «intellectual disability».^[26] Since 2012, that change in terminology has been adopted by the National Institutes of Health and the medical industry at large.^[27] There are numerous disability-related euphemisms that have negative connotations.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• Keith, Allan; Burridge, Kate. Euphemism & Dysphemism: Language Used as Shield and Weapon, Oxford University Press, 1991. ISBN 0-7351-0288-0.
• Benveniste, Émile, «Euphémismes anciens and modernes», in: Problèmes de linguistique générale, vol. 1, pp. 308–314. [originally published in: Die Sprache, I (1949), pp. 116–122].
• «Euphemism» . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 9 (11th ed.). 1911.
• Enright, D. J. (1986). Fair of Speech. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-283060-0.
• Fussell, Paul: Class: A Guide Through The American Status System, Touchstone – Simon & Schuster Inc., 1983. ISBN 0-671-44991-5, 0-671-79225-3.
• R.W.Holder: How Not to Say What You Mean: A Dictionary of Euphemisms, Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-19-860762-8.
• Keyes, Ralph (2010). Euphemania: Our Love Affair with Euphemisms. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0-316-05656-4.
• Maledicta: The International Journal of Verbal Aggression (ISSN US).
• McGlone, M. S., Beck, G., & Pfiester, R. A. (2006). «Contamination and camouflage in euphemisms». Communication Monographs, 73, 261–282.
• Rawson, Hugh (1995). A Dictionary of Euphemism & Other Doublespeak (second ed.). ISBN 0-517-70201-0.
• Smyth, Herbert Weir (1920). Greek Grammar. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. p. 678. ISBN 0-674-36250-0.
• Heidepeter, Philipp; Reutner, Ursula. «When Humour Questions Taboo: A Typology of Twisted Euphemism Use», in: Pragmatics & Cognition 28/1, 138–166. ISSN 0929-0907.

External links[edit]

• The dictionary definition of euphemism at Wiktionary

There
is a variety of periphrasis which we shall call euphemistic.

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, to go west. So euphemisms are synonyms which aim at producing
a deliberately mild effect.

The
origin of the term ‘euphemism’ discloses the aim of the device very
clearly, i.e. speaking well (from Greek—eu = well + -pheme =
speaking). In the vocabulary of any language, synonyms can be found
that soften an otherwise coarse or unpleasant idea. 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. This synonym, or dominant in a group of synonyms,
as it is often called, must follow the euphemism like a shadow, as
‘to possess a vivid imagination’, or ‘to tell stories’ in the proper
context will call up the unpleasant verb to lie. The euphemistic
synonyms given above are part of the language-as-a-system. They have
not been freshly invented. They are expressive means of the language
and are to be found in all good dictionaries. They cannot be regarded
as stylistic devices because they do not call to mind the key­word
or dominant of the group; in other words, they refer the mind to the
concept directly, not through the medium of another word. Compare
these euphemisms with the following from Dickens’s «Pickwick
Papers»: «They think we have come by this horse in some
dishonest manner»

The
italicized parts call forth the word ‘steal’ (have stolen it).

Euphemisms
may be divided into several groups according to their spheres of
application. The most recognized are the following: 1) religi­ous,
2) moral, 3) medical and 4) parliamentary.

The
life of euphemisms is short. They very soon become closely
as­sociated with the referent (the object named) and give way to
a newly-coined word or combination of words, which, being the sign of
a sign, throws another veil over an unpleasant or indelicate concept.
Here is an interesting excerpt from an article on this subject.

«The
evolution over the years of a civilized mental health service has
been marked by periodic changes in terminology. The madhouse became
the lunatic asylum; the asylum made way for the mental hospital—even
if the building remained the same. Idiots, imbeciles and the
feeble-minded became low, medium and high-grade mental defectives.
All are now to be lumped together as patients of severely subnormal
personality. The insane became per­sons of unsound mind, and are
now to be mentally-ill patients. As each phrase develops the stigmata
of popular prejudice, it is aban­doned in favour of another,
sometimes less precise than the old. Unimportant in themselves, these
changes of name are the sign­posts of progress.» l

Albert
C. Baugh gives another instance of such changes:

«…the
common word for a woman’s undergarment down to the eighteenth century
was ‘smock’. It was then replaced by the more delicate word ‘shift’®
In the nineteenth century the same motive led to the substitution of
the word ‘chemise’ and in the twentieth this has been replaced by
‘combinations’, ‘step-ins’, and other euphemisms,» 2

Today
we have a number of words denoting similar garments, as ‘briefs’, and
others. ^

Conventional
euphemisms—employed in conformity to social usages are best
illustrated by the parliamentary codes of expression. In an article
headed «In Commons, a Lie is Inexactitude» written by James
Fe-ron in The New York Times, we may find a number of words that are
not to be used in Parliamentary debate. «When Sir Winston
Churchill, some years ago,» writes Feron, «termed a
parliamentary opponent a ‘purveyor of terminological
inexactitudes’,.every one in the chamber knew he meant ‘liar’. Sir
Winston hacT been ordered by the Speaker to withdraw a strong­er
epithet. So he used the euphemism, which became famous and is still
used in the Commons. It conveyed the insult without sounding
offensive, and it satisfied the Speaker.» 3 —

The
author further points out that certain words, for instance, traitor
and coward, are specifically banned in the House of Commons because
ear­lier Speakers have ruled them disorderly or unparliamentary,
Speakers

have
decided that jackass is unparliamentary but goose is acceptable; dog,
rat and swine are out of order, but halfwit and Tory clot are in
order.

We
also learn from this article that «a word cannot become the
sub­ject of parliamentary ruling unless a member directs the
attention of the Speaker to it.» *

The
changes in designating objects disclose the true nature of the
re­lations between words and their referents. We must admit that
there is a positive magic in words and, as Prof, Randolph Quirk has
it,

«…we
are liable to be dangerously misled through being mes­merized by
a word or through mistaking a word for its referent.» 2

This
becomes particularly noticeable in connection with what are called
political euphemisms. These are really understatements, the aim of
which is to mislead public opinion and to express what is unpleasant
in a more delicate manner. Sometimes disagreeable facts are even
distorted with the help of a euphemistic expression. Thus the
headline in one of the British newspapers «Tension in Kashmir»
was to hide the fact that there was a real uprising in that area;
«Undernourishment of children in India» stood for
‘starvation’. In A. J. Cronin’s novel «The Stars Look Down»
one of the members of Parliament, referring to the words
«Under­nourishment of children in India» says:
«Honourable Members of the House understand the meaning of this
polite euphemism.» By calling under­nourishment a polite
euphemism he discloses the true meaning of the word.

An
interesting article dealing with the question of «political
euphem­isms» appeared in «Литературная
газета» § written by the Italian jour­nalist Entzo
Rava and headed «The Vocabulary of the Bearers of the Burden of
Power.» In this article Entzo Rava wittily discusses the
euphe­misms of the Italian capitalist press, which seem to have
been borrowed from the American and English press. Thus, for
instance, he mockingly states that capitalists have disappeared from
Italy. When the adherents of capitalism find it necessary to mention
capitalists, they replace the word capitalist by the combination
‘free enterprisers’, the word profit is replaced by ‘savings’, the
building up of labour reserves stands for ‘unem­ployment’,
‘dismissal’ (‘discharge’, ‘firing’) of workers is the reorganiza­tion
of the enterprise, etc.

As
has already been explained, genuine euphemism must call up the word
it stands for. It is always the result of some deliberate clash
between two synonyms. If a euphemism fails to carry along with it the
word it is intended to replace, it is not a euphemism, but a
deliberate veiling of the truth. All these building up of labour
reserves, -savings, free enterprisers and the like are not intended
to give the referent its true name, but to distort the truth. The
above expressions serve that purpose. Compare these word-combinations
with real euphemisms, like a four-letter word (= an obscenity); or a
woman of a certain type (= a prostitute, a whore); to

glow
•(= to sweat), all of which bring to our mind the other word
(words) and only through them the referent.

Here
is another good example of euphemistic phrases used by Gals­worthy
in his «Silver Spoon.»

«In
private I should merely call him a liar. In the Press you should use
the words: ‘Reckless disregard for truth1 and in Parli­ament—that
you regret he ‘should have been so misinformed.»»

Periphrastic
and euphemistic expressions were characteristic of cer­tain
literary trends and even produced a term periphrastic style. But it
soon gave way to a more straightforward way of describing things.

«The
veiled forms of expression,» writes G. H. McKnight, «which
served when one was unwilling to look facts in the face have been
succeeded by naked expressions exhibiting reality.»1

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Euphemism is the use of a word (or phrase) that replaces another one that one thinks to be too offensive or vulgar.^[1][2]

It also may be a replacement of a name or a word, that could reveal a secret or holy and sacred names to the uninitiated. It may also be used to obscure the identity of the subject of a conversation from potential eavesdroppers. A well known example for many is the replacement of Lord Voldemort’s name by «You-Know-Who» or «He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named» in Harry Potter. Some euphemisms are intended to be humorous.

Usage[change | change source]

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 politics.

Common examples[change | change source]

Examples for euphemisms are:^[3][4]

• restroom for toilet (the word toilet was itself originally a euphemism). This is an Americanism.
• making love to, doing it, or sleeping with for having sex
• mature or golden years for old age or elderly
• police action for undeclared war
• in the club for pregnant
• tired and emotional for drunk (mostly British)
• self-charging hybrid for a hybrid vehicle without the ability to charge the battery from an external power source.
  • All plug-In hybrids are also self-charging hybrids, just like all squares are rectangles but not the other way around.
• unibody = Non-replaceable mobile phone battery.

[change | change source]

• Dysphemism
• Metaphor

References[change | change source]