浅谈英语委婉语的分类、构成方式及社会功能 [8]
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:16463
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
one of the fertile fields for the growth of euphemisms. With euphemisms, politicians always justify their actions and beautify the harsh realities for some certain purposes. Only when the public believes that the society under their lead has become better, can their political life survives. The list of such kind of euphemisms is endless, e.g.: “economic crisis” is replaced by “depression” or “recession”; “strike” is said to be “industrial action”; “aggression” is spoken as “preemptive action”, “police action” or “anti-terrorist action”; “civilian casualties” is substituted by “collateral damage”; “killing of citizens” is euphemized as “wasting the enemy”; “concentration camps” is replaced by “strategic villages or hamlets”; “retreat” is said to be “strategic withdrawal”; “ground war” is spoken as “ground operation”; etc. “This kind of euphemisms is used to cover up the true nature of some political events, misleading the public with pleasant and sweet words.”[20]
4.5 In the field of commerce and industry
Euphemisms can also be seen in the area of commerce and industry. Example:
(44) John was out of game and he jumped from the 20th floor of a building out of desperation.
(45) She is a negative saver for she always buys something expensive but unnecessary so she has to borrow money from others at the end of each month.
In the above sentences, “bankrupt” and “over spender” are substituted by “out of game” and “negative saver”.
Some companies are not large enough to be called large companies, but they don’t want to use “fairly large” to describe themselves for the sense of dignity. So “substantial” is employed to replace “fairly large”, in the euphemistic expression “a substantial and well-diversified group companies”. In this field, “small” is regarded as a taboo word too, so people use many nice-sounding words to substitute it. In Europe “a compact” is equal to “a small car”. And “a subcompact” means “a type of very small and inexpensive car”. As it is inexpensive, it is attractive to people. Sometimes “small” is replaced by “intimate” or “limited”. As everybody knows, “an intimate gathering” is usually “a small gathering”. “cheap” is another taboo word. People don’t like to use the word “cheap”. Instead, they use its euphemisms, such as “low-cost”, “realistically priced”, or “economy priced”. In order to attract customers, shopkeepers use “premium-priced” to describe “expensive”. So, “premium-priced Scotches” in fact is “the most expensive Scotches”.
5. The social function of English euphemisms
5.1 For evasion
Since death is inevitable, it has become the fear of all human being. In early time, people seldom mentioned death directly because they were superstitious about it. They believed that death was a devil that can hear human’s voice. So if you speak of it, it will appear. Thus, there were many euphemisms about the word “die” such as “breathe one’s last” and “join the majority”.
Disease is another fear of man. In primitive society, as the level of medicine was very low, people scarcely survived when they got sick. To them, disease was as dreadful as death. So they didn’t speak it directly either. In modern society, although many diseases can be cured, people are still afraid of them. On the one hand, the patient suffers a lot from it; on the other hand, the expense is a heavy burden to the family especially the poor. The common result is that the patient regains his health but the whole family has to live a poor life
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