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Unit 13 Euphemism

By Neil Postman

Luozhaohui

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Look at the following and tell what they refer to:

senior citizen newly single

memorial park funeral director industrial action eliminate

old people divorced graveyard undertaker strike to kill

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Definitions of euphemism

Dictionary definition: the substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one that is thought to be offensively harsh or blunt.

A figure of speech in which indirectness of statement, usually in an effort to avoid offensive bluntness in some subject involving delicacy or taboo (e.g.: pass away, at liberty, senior citizens, etc.) .

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It is, of course, possible for euphemism to signal false delicacy, insincerity, sentimentality, or excessive modesty; it may also mean a decent respect for the feeling of other. There can also be a measure of irony in euphemism (e.g.: the novel A Farewell to Arms by Hemingway to mean a desertion in wartime).

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Euphemism: a pleasant way of referring to something unpleasant. ( undertaker, mortician…)

Euphemism: the use of an indirect mild, or vague word or expression for one thought to be coarse, offensive or blunt.(the late, correctional institution…)

Of Greek origin, meaning “the use of words of good repute or omen”

eu(good)-phem(voice)-ism(act or result)

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Main Issuesyou will have to retell the following after

learning the text: The author George Orwell(see notes) Purpose of writing Main points illustrated by the author Major writing approaches or techniques Development of the text Relationship between words/name and meaning Conceptual meaning & associative meaning Elevation and degeneration of meaning

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Conceptual meaning & associative meaning

Conceptual meaning covers those basic, essential components of meaning which are conveyed by the literal use of a word or a phrase. Associative meanings show people’s emotion, attitude toward what the word refers to; reflect the social circumstance of its use; evoke in the reader/hearer certain associations of what the word refers to. The difference in meaning reveals the difference in attitude of value judgment.

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Conceptual meaning & associative meaning

The difference in “naming” reveals the difference in attitude or value-judgment. Moreover, it is a device of conjuring up associations and making people prejudiced for or against certain events or person(钱瑗，1991). (see “Ethics for Everyman”)

In order to avoid using words with undesirable or unpleasant association, people turn to euphemism.

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Ethics for Everyman by Roger Woddis (a humorous poet)

Throwing a bomb is bad, Dropping a bomb is good; Terror, no need to add, Depends on who’s wearing the hood.( 帽子 )

Kangaroo courts(非正规的法庭 ) are wrong, Specialist courts are right; Discipline by the strong Is fair if your collar is white.

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Company output “soars”, Wages, of course, “explode”; Profits deserve applause, Pay-claims, the criminal code.

Daily the Church declares Betting-shops are a curse; Gambling with stocks and shares Enlarge the national purse.

★betting-shops: (设在赛马场外有执照的彩票经理部，亦作 betting office)

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Workers are absentees, Businessmen relax, Different as chalk and cheese; Social morality Has a duality— One for each side of the tracks. ★Different as chalk and cheese: very different from each

other though superficially alike; different in their qualities

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Elevation and degeneration of meaning

(词义的升格和降格—词义变化的其中两种形式）

negro -- blackNegro (an indirect term) was once used to avoid unpleasant feeling. But in the 60s’, with the civil rights

movement, esp. of the black people,”black” was considered to

be a kind of beauty and thus negro was replaced by the term “black” ,

a direct term(euphemism in reverse).

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Questions for discussion

What gives euphemism a bad name? What’s the author’s purpose in writing the essay?

How do you understand the sentence “…things do not have ‘real’ names”?

“what we call things affects how we perceive them.” What’s your opinion on this point?

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Interpret the sentence “euphemizing is a perfectly intelligent method of generating new and useful ways of perceiving things.” Is there any other sentence in the text expressing the similar point?

euphemize: [‘ju:fәmaiz],委婉地说，用委婉语说

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Structure and development of the text

The author begins the essay with a definition of euphemism and the reason why euphemism has got a bad name(point 1), and introduces his purpose of writing the essay-- to say a few words to defend it.

Then he begins with the relation between words/names and things(para.2):

The relationship between the majority of words and their meanings is arbitrary, words are, therefore, no more than labels given to things. But, on the other hand, if you change the names of things(the labels), you change how people will regard them, and that is as good as changing the nature of the things themseves. (point 2)

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Paragraph 3 and point 3:

Euphemizing is a perfectly intelligent method of generating new and useful ways of perceiving things.(to encourage us to see aspects of a situation or a thing that might have otherwise been neglected.)

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Paragraph 4 and point 4

There is nothing in the process of euphemizing itself that is contemptible. Euphemizing is contemptible when a name makes us see something that is not true or diverts our attention from something that is.

example: “operation sunshine” for “experiment of hydrogen bomb”

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Paragraph 5 and point 5

Acceptance of a new name of a thing (change of name, or euphemistic way of naming ) must be supported by cultural or social change or movement.

illustration?

（ also refer to feminist attempt to replace Mrs and Miss with Ms in “Sexism in English: A feminist View”）

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Paragraph 7 and point 6

What point is the author trying to convey to his reader in the last paragraph by giving examples of “dead vs. pass away and shithouse vs. restroom”?

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Major writing approaches and techniques

Definition Illustration Use of transitional devices And more?

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Assignment

Join the main points together and summarize the text in your own way.