题型-特大暴雨
Euphemism
From Wikipedia, the
free encyclopedia.
A
euphemism
is a
word
or phrase that is used
in place of a disagreeable
or
offensive
term.
When
a
phrase
becomes
a
euphemism,
its
literal
meaning
is
often
pushed
aside.
The
process
of
coining
euphemisms
is
called
taboo
deformation
.
Taboo deformations leave traces in
historical linguistics
.
Several are
known to have occurred in
Indo-European
. Examples
include the original
Indo-European
words for
bear
(
*rktos
) and
wolf
(
*wlk
w
os
), or
deer
(originally,
hart
).
All
of
these
words
have
difficult
etymologies
because
of
taboo
deformations;
or
have
had
euphemisms
substituted
for
the
original
word some time in the past; for
Germanic
word
means
guy;
the
Slavic
root
(
*medu-ed-
)
means
Euphemisms
can
eventually
become
taboo
words
themselves
through
a
process
for which the linguist
Steven Pinker
has coined the
term
euphemism
treadmill
. This process, by
which, over the course of time, a word that
was originally adopted as a euphemism
acquires all the negative
connotations
of its referent
and has to
be replaced by
a substitute
can,
in extreme cases, result in a
cycle.
Many euphemisms fall into one
or more of these categories:
?
?
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Foreign terms
(
derriere
,
copulation
)
Abbreviations
(
SOB
for
Abstractions (
it
,
the situation
,
go
)
Indirections
(
behind
,
unmentionables
)
Longer words
(
perspire
,
urinate
)
Mispronunciation
(
goldarnit
,
freakin
)
There is some confusion over whether
certain terms are or are not
euphemisms. For example, the phrase
visually impaired
is
popularly
perceived as a
politically correct
euphemism for
blind
.
However, visual
impairment
is
a
broader
term,
and
it
includes
people
who
have
partial
sight
in one eye, for
example.
There are two rough opposites
of euphemism,
dysphemism
and
cacophemism
.
The
latter is generally used more often in the sense
of something
deliberately
offensive,
while
the
former
can
be
either
offensive
or
merely
humorously
deprecating.
1
There
is
necessarily
a
lot
of
subjectivity
involved,
because
connotations
easily change
over time.
Idiot
was once a
neutral term, and
moron
a
euphemism
for
it.
As
is
usually
the
case
with
evolving
languages,
negative
usages
win
over
neutral
ones,
so
we
had
to
come
up
with
retarded
.
Now
that
too is considered rude,
so we have
challenged
, and
so on. A similar
progression occurred
with
reek/stink/smell/odor/fragrance
. Perhaps 40
years from now
fragrant
will be the vilest
insult.
Euphemisms
are
also
used
to
hide
unpleasant
ideas,
even
when
the
term
for
them is not offensive.
This
kind of
euphemism is used
extensively in the
fields of
public relations
and
politics
.
Examples include:
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?
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?
?
collateral
damage for
unplanned
landing
for
spontaneous energetic
disassembly
for explosion
protective custody
for
imprisonment without judicial proceedings
The many euphemisms for the
word fuck
bathroom
for urination and
defecation room
gay
for homosexual
See also
politeness
,
doublespeak
.
Doublespeak
From Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia.
Doublespeak
is language
deliberately
constructed to disguise
its actual
meaning,
usually
from
governmental
,
military
,
or
corporate
institutions.
The
word
doublespeak
was
coined
in
the
early
1950s
.
It
is
often
incorrectly
attributed
to
George
Orwell
and
his
dystopian
novel
Nineteen
Eighty-Four
.
The
word
actually
never
appears
in
that
novel;
Orwell
did,
however,
coin
Newspeak
,
Oldspeak
and
doublethink
, and his novel
made fashionable
composite nouns with
speak
as the second element,
which were previously
unknown
in
English
.
It
was
therefore
just
a
matter
of
time
before
someone
came up with
doublespeak
. Doublespeak may
be considered, in Orwell's
lexicography, as the B vocabulary of
Newspeak, words
constructed
for
political
purposes:
words,
that
is
to
say,
which
not
only
2
had in every case a political
implication, but were intended to impose
a desirable mental attitude upon the
person using them.
Successfully
introduced doublespeak, over time, becomes part of
the
general language, shaping
the
context in which it
is used. See
below for
discussion of
classified
and
unclassified
.
In
addition, doublespeak may be in the form of bald
euphemisms
(
for
of many
employees
)
or
deliberately
ambiguous
phrases (
).
The
process
of
abbreviating
names
or
forming
acronyms
to
form
new
words,
which arose during the
World
War
and
Cold War
governments and corporate
institutions,
is now pervasive (for example:
Microsoft
from
Wikipedia
from
Whereas in the early days of the
practice it was considered wrong to
construct words to disguise meaning,
this is now an accepted and
established
practice.
There
is
a
thriving
industry
in
constructing
words
without explicit meaning but with
particular connotations for new
products
or
companies.
For
example,
in
1978
Esso
(itself
a
neologism
from
the acronym for
Oil
changed to
Exxon
, a name chosen in
large
part for its graphic
properties (some accuse Esso of changing its name
to sound like
Nixon
, as he was running for
president at that time; Exxon
is still
called 'Esso' in Europe). See also
jargon
,
neologism
.
What
distinguishes doublespeak from other euphemisms is
its deliberate
usage by governmental,
military, or corporate institutions.
Some examples of doublespeak, with
etymologies:
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
capital punishment: death
penalty
collateral damage:
bystander deaths
defense:
war
As
in
Department
of
Defense,
formed
by
the
merging
of
the
Department
of
War
and
Department of the Navy.
pre-hostility: peace
regime: government (negative term)
unsavory character:
criminal
wet work:
assassination
area denial
munitions: landmines
human
intelligence: spies
intelligence: spies or secrets
asset (CIA term): foreign
spy
3