Euphemism
Lee Sang SoonJo Min Ki
Intro
Taboo and Euphemism
• Some words undergo pejo-ration because of a taboo against talking about the things they name.
• The replacement for a taboo term is a eu-phemism.
• Euphemism is from Greek word meaning ‘good sounding’.
Taboo and Euphemism
• Louise Pound, the first woman president of the Modern Lan-guage Association<American Euphemism for Dy-ing, Death and Burial>“One of mankind’s gravest prob-lems is to avoid a straight for-ward mention of dying for burial.”
• Euphemism is especially fre-quent when we must come face to face with the less happy facts of our existence.
Example - Death
• Alleviated for the survivor by call-ing it by some other name.
e.g. Death – the final sleep Die – go to sleep go on a journey pass away
• The notion of death is made more tolerable to human consciousness
Example - Decency
• Idea of decency profoundly affect language.
• During the Victorian era, ladies and gentlemen were very sensitive about using the word ‘leg’
• Captain Frederick Marryant’s diary in America – American taboo on this word.e.g. leg – limb
• Similar taboo was placed on ‘belly’e.g. Belly – stomach, tummy, breadbasket
• They cause sexual humiliation
Example - Disease
• Euphemism is likewise resorted to in reference to certain disease.
• Words for diseases are doubtless rooted in anxiety and superstition.
• An ailment of almost any sort is of-ten referred to as a condition.e.g. heart condition, kidney condi-tion, etc
• Referring instead to those who born under ’Cancer’ as ‘Moon Children’.
• ‘Leprosy’ is replaced by the color-less ‘Hansen disease’.
Example – Sentimental Equalitarianism
• Attempt to dignify occupation by giving them high-sounding titles.e.g. Janitor – custodian
garbage man – sanitary engineer
rat catcher – extermina-tion engineer
• One of the great concerns of the progressive age.
• Nobody’s feeling shall ever be hurt- at least not by words. (political correctness)
Is the Euphemism always desirable?
Problem - Glamorization
• “We are not at war with Cuba, We are in a state of armed conflict.”
• “It was after a New Year’s Eve party at which both had too much to drink, he testified, and he got physical trying to get her out of the room.”
• the War department → the De-partment of Defense
• “Real GDP decreases.” → negative growth
Problem - Inefficiency
• Shell shock/Combat fatigue/Post-traumatic stress disorder
• “You are fired.” → “I’m afraid you should make a career realign-ment.”
Problem – Conflict
• Positive discrimination(Affirmative action)→ Another kind of “Discrimina-tion”?
(e.g. Reverse discrimina-tion)
• Euthanasia vs. Mercy Killing→ Is there a “right to die”? Mercy killing is just “killing(=murder).”
Conclusion
• Euphemism is adouble-edge sword.Replacement for a Taboo /Conflict maker
• Moderate use is neces-sary.However, it is hard to achieve.
End