浅谈英语委婉语的分类、构成方式及社会功能 [7]
论文作者:魏小玲论文属性:短文 essay登出时间:2009-04-06编辑:黄丽樱点击率:16439
论文字数:6337论文编号:org200904061115546270语种:英语 English地区:中国价格:免费论文
关键词:English euphemismformationclassificationsocial function英语委婉语构成方式分类社会功能
are used to soften harsh reality, but when governments use them, they are changed into deceiving words.
4.1.3 About menial jobs and professions
There are many people who undertake humble jobs that are looked down upon by the public. For the sake of politeness, people use upgrading euphemisms to “uplift” these jobs by name, not by status. Examples:
(32) Mary always turns to her uncle when there is something wrong with her shoes for he is a shoe rebuilder.
(33) Supervisors are strict and mean to workers.
(34) The main work of tree surgeons is to make good of trees.
(35) We need a pipe engineer because the pipe in our kitchen is dripping.
In the above sentences, “cobbler”, “foremen”, “tree trimmers” and “plumber” are replaced respectively by “shoe rebuilder”, “supervisors”, “tree surgeons” and “pipe engineer”. And “hair dresser” is substituted by “beautician or hairstylist”; “floor-sweeper” is replaced by “custodian engineer”; “hire girl” is spoken as “domestic engineer”; “rat-catcher” is substituted by “pest control operator”; “washwoman” is replaced by “clothes refresher”, and so on. All these words are used for the same purpose: to avoid offending people with humble jobs. The usage of occupational euphemisms reflects a sense of inferiority as well as a striving for “better things”.
4.1.4 About menstruation
The desire to escape from unpleasant feelings brings out many euphemisms on excretion of women. Menstruation euphemism is one of them. Such as “to have a visitor”; “my friend has come”; and so on. All of these euphemisms are used to avoid the feeling of embarrassment and distaste.
4.2 In the field of education
Teachers have to make comments on students. When they want to point out shortcomings or bad behavior of students, they often use roundabout ways in order not to hurt students and their parents. The following are some mostly used euphemisms in this field and their real meanings.
“(36) The student is obtuse. ---The student is a bit slow for his age. The students seems to be mentally retarded.
(37) He has failed (flunked) a major course. ---I’m sorry to find him an underachiever for a major subject.
(38) The student is lazy. --- The student needs to raise his ambition a bit. I’m afraid the student has to exert himself in his study. He is sure to go far if he can use his resources fully. He’ll go somewhere if he is highly motivated.
(39) The student is noisy. ---He needs to develop quieter habits of communication.
(40) The student is a bully. --- He needs help in learning to use is leadership qualities democratically
(41) He lies. ---He has difficulty in distinguishing between imaginary and factual information.
(42) The student cheats. ---He needs help in learning to respect the property right of others.
(43) The student must mend his way. –He needs to be brought back into the mainstream.”[19]
4.3 In the field of law
Since crimes are tabooed in many social situations, people create a large number of euphemisms to replace them. Here is a list of crimes and their corresponding euphemisms.
Crimes Euphemisms
crooked, fraudulent free-wheeling
thief five fingers, a dip, a fork
violence action
murder take care of
prostitute brass, daughter of eve
heroin Big Harry
opium black stuff
4.4 In the field of politics
Politics is
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