A brief discussion of English euphemisms

1. Introduction

Language is a subjective response to objective social phenomena. In modern society, as communication with the world becomes increasingly frequent, language (especially English), as a means of communication, has become increasingly important in fields such as foreign academic exchanges, political and military activities, and tourism services. Among them, euphemism, as a common linguistic, social and cultural phenomenon, has attracted more and more attention from people from all walks of life at home and abroad.

As we all know, euphemism is an implicit, appropriate, elegant, and pleasant vague expression to replace another unpleasant or disrespectful or polite expression. This kind of wording has been around for a long time. In the feudal era of China, the social classes were clearly divided between monarchs, ministers, fathers and sons. People in the country were in awe of the emperor or elders in the family and did not want to call them by their names. , and use other words to express it, this is called "name taboo". For example, when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was named "Hengshan", everyone would avoid changing "Hengshan" to "Changshan"; Su Shi's grandfather was named "Xu", and Su Shi would change it to "Xu" or "Xu" whenever he wrote a preface. These are all typical euphemisms. Example. It can be said that when speaking, when encountering some vulgar, rude or taboo topics such as "hard to say", "should not be said", "cannot be said", etc., the speaker will often turn "unfavorable" into "advantageous" and choose words that are related or similar to the original intention. Use obedient words to euphemistically express one's own thoughts, so as to win the favor of the other party, create a relaxed and harmonious conversation atmosphere, shorten the distance between people, and make interpersonal communication that was originally difficult to establish smooth.

In our reading and communication, we find that euphemisms are everywhere. Mastering this important rhetorical tool can not only improve rhetorical literacy and broaden cultural horizons, but also enhance reading comprehension and communicative abilities. In addition, through the observation and study of euphemisms, we can get a glimpse of the colorful social phenomena and social psychology. This article will analyze euphemisms from multiple perspectives.

2. The social basis for the emergence of English euphemisms

The history of euphemisms in English is very long, and many euphemisms originate from the Bible. Chaucer in his Canterbury Tales and Shakespeare used euphemisms extensively in his plays and poems. When performing sacrifices in ancient Greece, people generally spoke auspicious words, that is, used euphemisms. In Britain, the use of euphemisms can be traced back to at least the 11th century. At that time, there were two types of euphemisms: Genteel Vocabulary and Obscene Vocabulary. Genteel Vocabulary was the predecessor of euphemism. All these can show that euphemistic expression of meaning has been gradually formed long before the emergence of literature. It is an extremely common social phenomenon that continues to develop simultaneously with the history of human social civilization.

(1) Euphemism is a reflection of social psychology in language, and its emergence is always closely related to the times. ⑴

In the case of extremely low productivity, human beings are limited by their own understanding and are unable to provide reasonable explanations for many natural phenomena. They mistakenly believe that there is a mysterious force that controls everything. Therefore, superstition or religion was used to explain everything, resulting in the language of fearing ghosts and gods, and euphemisms replaced taboo words, but the meaning remained unchanged. For example: the most taboo word "death" is often expressed by "pass away", "fall asleep", etc. However, in the war years when the economy was low, language was generally roughened, and euphemisms appeared less frequently. In peaceful times, people naturally pursued language civilization, and euphemisms appeared more frequently. In modern society, science and technology progress, productivity develops, the economic situation changes greatly and progresses rapidly, and human beings are constantly changing and progressing, resulting in a large number of social, psychological, and linguistic taboos (taboos), which become the prerequisite for the creation of euphemisms.

English euphemism reached its peak in the 18th century during the prosperity of the British Empire. Although euphemism has existed since ancient times, the specific circumstances and conditions of each period were different.

(2) The emergence and development of euphemisms mainly come from the middle class of society.

The classes in society can be divided into three levels: upper, middle and lower. Generally speaking, people in the upper class have consolidated their status in all aspects and have strong strength, so they do not need to have any considerations or scruples about language; while the poor lower class people, on the contrary, are at the forefront of society in terms of politics, economy, culture, and education. The bottom class is unconditionally and unwilling to bite the bullet. Only the middle class, in order to improve their own situation and improve their social status, are careful in their language and strive to be appropriate and not irritating others. As the number of people in the middle class increases rapidly and the proportion becomes larger, the development speed of euphemisms also becomes faster accordingly. This is the social reason for the emergence and development of euphemisms in the past hundreds of years.

(3) The emergence and development of euphemisms are closely related to women’s status in society.

I believe everyone has noticed that many people often use this phrase at the beginning of their speeches: Ladies and gentlemen. As you can imagine, women were highly respected in the mid-19th century. But in many countries, people realize that there are certain things that are inappropriate to say in front of women and require special care. Because women account for half of the total population, euphemisms have become an essential language component in many situations over time and are used very frequently. This became the social basis for the emergence of euphemisms.

3. The pragmatic function of English euphemisms

As the saying goes: A kind word warms a person for three months, but a bad word hurts a person for three months. ?Human communication is always inseparable from the use of language, and gentle and tactful language is a lubricant in communication. It can not only overcome people's psychological barriers, but also slow down or eliminate all kinds of unhappiness caused by straightforwardness in interpersonal communication. Because of the euphemisms in the world, humans will not be full of friction and resentment. Next, we will analyze some pragmatic functions of euphemism, so that we can better understand a society’s advocating psychology and capture human thinking from it.

(1) Four avoidance functions

Taboo words include obscene, vulgar, ominous words and profane ). In most cases, natural laws, superstitions, values, moral values, etc., such as "birth, old age, sickness and death", "gods and ghosts", "human organs", "poverty and unemployment", etc., are all things that people are afraid of seeing and try their best to avoid using euphemisms. of. "Taboo" is the avoidance of unpleasant things, while "courtesy" is the avoidance of indecent things. This can be summarized into four "avoidances":

The first is to avoid vulgarity and seek elegance. Language that is too straightforward appears vulgar and uncivilized. Things like death and disease are taboo if expressed directly. On the contrary, indirect expressions using euphemisms appear to be more elegant and meaningful. For example: use ?to be with God? instead of ?death?; use ?the Big C? or ?social disease? to replace the popular and frightening ?AIDS?; use ?sweet cheesecake? God is called God with such beautiful words as "Lovely Jesus"; the liver is called "cheerful giver"; the intestines are called "spaghetti factory" (noodle factory); even the excretion of urine and feces is euphemistically called "go" to the bathroom? (go to the bathroom), it is really vivid, concise and easy to understand, endless and dizzying.

The second is to avoid sarcasm and seek euphemism. In order to avoid irritating the listeners, teachers at school know that students often use the word "awful" instead of "not particularly good" to promote the relationship between teachers and students and encourage poor students to continue to work hard.

In addition, you should not say students are stupid, slow, or lazy, but should say under-achiever (students who fail to realize their potential), so that it does not sound so harsh and does not hurt other people's self-esteem. . There are many people suffering from obesity in the population now. It is extremely impolite to call people "fat" directly, but if you call them plump (plump) or chubby (round-faced), people don't care. In the same way, for those who are average-looking, use not pretty or plain instead of ugly; for those who are too thin, use slim or slender instead of a skinny woman. woman). This has a positive effect in eliminating mutual misunderstandings and frictions, as well as eliminating people's inferiority complex due to physical defects.

The third is to avoid the old and pursue the new. In order to attract business, some commercial organizations often change their signboards or titles, trying to give people a refreshing feeling. For example, the sign hanging at the door of a pawnshop is "Loan Office"; the sign hanging at the door of an old furniture store is "Antiques". Some airlines even play tricks on the names of cabin classes: First Class is renamed Deluxe Class; Second Class is renamed First Class; Third Class is renamed Business Class Class) or Economic Class (Economic Class), which is refreshing and can satisfy the vanity of customers. Euphemism is like a femme fatale. No matter how gorgeous and alluring the appearance is, it is difficult to see its inner essence immediately. Its own deceptive function masks the truth. For example: For political purposes, Western governments often describe "labor strike" as "industrial action" in the media; they describe "ecnomic crisis" as "recession" or "depression"; they describe "conquest" as "recession" or "depression". Tax increase is said to be revenue enhancement. In order to cover up their crimes during the Vietnam War, Americans described the indiscriminate bombing in the air as logistical strikes, and the killing of Vietnamese civilians as wasting the enemy. In the war against Iraq in 2003, the United States openly branded this unreasonable and inhumane aggression "occupation" as a noble image of "liberation". Therefore, in a certain sense, euphemisms conform to the political requirements of the political world, and the horror and cruelty of war disappear under the cover of euphemisms.

(2) Ironic function

Euphemisms are not only deceptive and concealing, but also sarcastic. Although it is tactful and gentle, there is frankness in the tactfulness, and perseverance in the gentleness. Take the word college, for example. Many people know its literal meaning, but very few people know the word "prison" used by prisoners. In order to beautify and cleanse themselves, prisoners regard being forced to study and reform in prison for committing crimes as studying at university to increase knowledge, which reflects their strong vanity, so this word is also quite ironic. Let’s talk about the balm of Gilead that comes from the Bible story. There is a requiem in Gilead in the story that can soothe sinful souls. The use of "balm of Gilead" in English to refer to wine is also full of irony, revealing that the essence of wine is nothing more than a drug that anesthetizes the human body's nerves.

Another example is that "live on nothing" is also commonly used in English as a euphemism to describe those stingy misers. The British writer W. Thackeray used this phrase in the title of Chapter 36 of "Vanity Fair" to make a bitter satire on the absurd life of the novel's protagonist, the hypocrisy of pursuing fame and fortune, and the selfishness of money worship.

(3) Self-protection function

As mentioned above, the purpose of using euphemisms is to treat others with courtesy, that is, the politeness function. The self-protection function is proposed here to restrict and complement each other with the politeness function and the principle of cooperation, and to play a simultaneous role in language communication. When the two functions conflict, the principle of politeness must be subordinated to the principle of self-protection. In fact, the purpose of using euphemisms is to protect yourself and protect your own interests from being infringed. When used, it helps to establish a positive image, maintain or even improve the speaker's status in the mind of the addressee, and can effectively suppress the other party's rude remarks. However, self-protection here should not be equated with being self-centered. It should be within the scope of the law and under the constraints of social norms to safeguard one's own reasonable rights and interests. First of all, it must not infringe the interests of the other party and take into account the fundamental interests of both parties. On the basis of this, strive for as many rights and advantages as possible for yourself. As long as we clearly understand that the fundamental starting point of using euphemisms is to be kind to others, we can create a good communication atmosphere and achieve satisfactory communication effects.

(4) Humor effect function

Humorous euphemisms can help people face reality and be able to deal with it easily at the time of the incident. For example: using ?push up daisies? instead of ?be buried? can reduce people's fear of death; saying ?to be sent into prison? (to go to prison) as ?live at government?s expense? obviously increases the ridicule. For example, since this century, British people often say this when they refuse the host's solicitude to eat after eating: "I'm willing, but Mary isn't". (I would like it, but my stomach is not working.) Here, the personification of "stomach" as "Mary" not only uses rhetoric (personification of objects), but also is unique and humorous, making it less embarrassing and foreign, and more familiar. and feelings. In addition, euphemisms also use foreign languages ??to create a humorous atmosphere. For example: Borrowing ?fain?ant? or ?faineance? from French to replace ?idler?, which reminds people of the last few Merovingian kings in French history who did not care about government affairs---?the lazy king? (rois) fain?ants). This approach is unique and amazing. In today's competitive society, people are extremely nervous, and most of the time they are interested in each other. I believe that if everyone can use this function at the right time, this indifference will be greatly improved.

(5) Communicative function

As an indirect speech act, euphemism is commonly found in various languages. It has important social communication functions such as coordinating relationships and maintaining normal interactions. The communication functions mentioned here are divided into two types: communication between opposite sexes and external communication.

As long as you observe carefully, you can find that people use more euphemisms when communicating with the opposite sex than in front of the same sex. A young man was deeply in love with a young woman, so he asked three times: "Do you love me?" ?But the woman did not really fall in love with the young man. Due to face, she did not want to tell the truth, so she used three negative euphemisms for "Love": ?be very fond of?, ?mean a lot? , "care of" to correct and reduce the tone. On the one hand, it frustrates the man's aggressive questioning, and on the other hand, it saves him face.

External communication is mainly reflected in diplomatic dialogue. International conflicts are very sensitive. It is inevitable that diplomats and spokespersons will sometimes have to say sharp and harsh words to safeguard their country's dignity and status.

However, they cannot appear rude or arrogant, so some unique euphemisms appear in diplomatic language. If a spokesperson of a certain party uses ?can not remain indifferent to? (cannot remain indifferent to) when expressing his country's government's position on some international disputes, what he actually wants to say is that his country's government will not stand idly by and will definitely intervene in the matter. . If he says his government views with grave concern, that means the government will consider taking a hard line. Using euphemisms does not mean giving in. If serious warnings still fail to attract other countries' attention, he will say: In such an event, my government would feel bound carefully to reconsider their position. ?(In this event, our government will seriously reconsider their position), that means the friendship between the two countries will turn into hostility. Nowadays, interactions with foreigners are becoming more and more frequent. If you can speak authentic English and use euphemisms in English correctly, you will undoubtedly make communication easier. In fact, the use of euphemisms in external communication is becoming more and more common. In the past, warning signs saying "No Smoking" and "No Vandalizing of Public Property" were everywhere. Now most of them have changed their tone and are added in English, becoming "Thank you for not smoking" and "Please take good care of public property". ?. Through the above analysis, I am more convinced that the use of euphemisms is a place for each other to tolerate each other, for the sake of politeness and self-esteem. We should not only maintain our own face and follow the principle of self-protection, but also try our best to satisfy the other party's desire for face and abide by the principle of seeking common ground.

4. The pragmatic characteristics of English euphemisms

After understanding so much information and functions about euphemisms, it is not difficult to find that they have different pragmatic characteristics.

First, universality. Although euphemisms are not straight to the point, people who are familiar with English can easily hear the underlying meaning, and many euphemisms for taboo words are accepted by the public.

Second, indirect implicitness. No need to argue, this is the biggest feature of euphemism. To use a euphemism is to use an elegant, tortuous and subtle way to imply something. For example, the following sentence: In a few minutes the ?madam?, as the current word characterized this type of women, appeared? Madam is usually a polite term for a married woman, but here it refers to the madam of a brothel. This shows that euphemism can help both parties avoid the embarrassment and discomfort caused by speaking out. This is an important reason why euphemisms are so popular.

Third, the nature of the times. As time goes by, society continues to develop, and euphemisms also undergo a process of metabolism. For example: "She is pregnant" was euphemistically expressed as "She has canceled all her social engagements" in the mid-19th century, but by the mid-20th century it was directly expressed as "She is pregnant". Social problems in various periods affect people's psychological state, which is also clearly reflected in euphemisms. For example, in the early days, the euphemism for concubine and paramour was mistress. In the era of sexual liberation in the West, people began to call it unmarried wife without shame, and mistress turned into wife.

It can be seen that the use of euphemisms is constantly changing due to the needs of social life, rational thinking has replaced mysterious cover-ups, and some so-called "dirty" words have entered the room.

Fourth, register variability. Register includes the speaker's different gender, age, identity, etc. Euphemisms have different euphemisms for the same meaning depending on the context in which they are used. Take "going to the toilet" as an example, "to rear" is a man's term, "to powder one's nose" is a woman's term, "go to the pot and make number one" is a children's term, and "go to WC" is an adult's term In other words, "convenience station" is a fairly formal written language, "John" is a slang term, "bathroom" is a spoken term, and "poet's corner" is a joke when joking. Therefore, when using it, you need to pay attention to the context and choose appropriate euphemisms with different stylistic features to make them more appropriate and polite.

Fifth, national culture. That is, differences in cultural background will affect the understanding of euphemisms. Due to a lack of understanding of British culture, a tourist in Paris took the landlady's words "pass to the other side", "kick the bucket" and "snuff" literally and interpreted them literally as "pass to the other side", "kick the bucket" and "snuff". ?, and even gave a ridiculous answer. In Western culture, asking someone about their age, income, marital status, political leanings, and religious beliefs is considered an invasion of privacy and impolite. In these aspects, there are many euphemisms. Some euphemisms have overt religious overtones.

5. Issues that should be paid attention to when using euphemism

Euphemism is a double-edged sword. Although it has existed in ancient times and is still fierce today, it must not be used. Too much flooding. When using it, you should consider the occasion and the object. If you use it properly, it can coordinate the relationship. If you use it excessively, it will confuse the audience and cover up the essence of the matter. If it is used inappropriately, it will make you want to be polite but not polite, and even make people confused. Fog and confusion. Therefore, there are a few points that must be paid close attention to. First of all, pay attention to your opinions, stances and attitudes when using them. In other words, no matter how tactfully or implicitly we express it, our views must be correct, our stance must be firm, our attitude must be clear, and our principles must be adhered to. Take for example the NATO bombing of my country’s embassy in Yugoslavia in May 1999. The whole country was shocked, condemned this barbaric act, and demanded a reasonable explanation and apology from NATO. However, NATO’s mistake was caused by inaccurate maps. They used the word "regret" to express their attitude because they used the excuse to bomb my country. It is very obvious that there is a big difference in meaning between the words "apologise" and "regret". This attempt to use euphemisms to deceive the public is very shameful. Secondly, whether the context is necessary should be considered, that is, the use of euphemisms should be decided based on actual needs. Don't blindly pursue politeness, which will be self-defeating. In fact, many euphemisms have become clichés and should be avoided in formal spoken and written language. Finally, although the use of euphemisms has the effect of removing derogatory connotations, this effect is often short-lived. Over time, euphemisms that were originally intended to have positive connotations can develop negative associations. Once this negative connotation is recognized, people look for new euphemisms. This is one reason why English euphemisms are constantly being renovated.

6. Conclusion

The formation of euphemisms is the result of the combined effect of various social factors and pragmatic factors. With the transformation of society from physical to intellectual, speaking skills and good interpersonal relationships have an increasingly profound impact on people's lives. Modern people try their best to avoid saying anything, but prefer to beat around the bush and be indirect and euphemistic. Its positive significance is self-evident. Only by carefully studying euphemism and becoming familiar with its functions can we understand and use it more accurately, which will be beneficial to the development of various social tasks. However, everything has two sides and remember not to overuse euphemisms, as this can leave a dishonest and contrived impression.