XIII Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2021

Euphemism - a word or phrase used to avoid saying an unpleasant or offensive word.

Examples: porcelain throne (toilet), to see a man about a horse (to go to the bathroom), senior (old),economically challenged (poor), between jobs (unemployed), upchuck (vomit), big-boned (overweight) etc.

One of the most common abstractions to be replaced by euphemism is death. Using euphemism to express death and dying may be a way to avoid confronting mortality or to gain some emotional distance from a sad circumstance. There are the following euphemisms which for the word “to die”: 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.

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.

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 Feron 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 in exactitudes’, everyone in the chamber knew he meant ‘liar’. Sir Winston had been ordered by the Speaker to withdraw 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.”

The changes in designating objects disclose the true nature of the relations between words and their referents.

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.

Some people may have trouble distinguishing euphemism from political correctness. However, there are distinct differences between the two. For example, whereas people used to use the phrase “disabled person,” it is now considered politically correct to say “person with disabilities.” This change in phrasing is not meant to be euphemistic or an indirect way of expressing something unpleasant or undesirable. Instead, politically correct phrasing is meant to express something in a more direct and respectful way.

Political correctness differs from euphemism in that it is not a figure of speech and does not utilize figurative language. In fact, political correctness is considered avoidance, almost to an extreme, of expressions or actions that people perceive as exclusive, marginal, or insulting to others who face discrimination or disadvantage of some kind. Therefore, the purpose of politically correct phrasing is not to replace words with others that are less offensive or inflammatory. Instead, the goal of political correctness is to avoid such indirect expression altogether.

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.

List of references:

Galperin I.R. English Stylistics. Moscow: USSR, 2014. 333 p.

Sachkova E.V. Lectures on English Stylistics: Учебноепособие. - М.: МИИТ, 2012. - 94 с.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/ru/словарь/английский/euphemism

https://literarydevices.net/euphemism/