Did you hear? After Mary slept with Jim, her foreman allow her travel. Everyone knows she ‘s anticipating. And it happened so shortly after her female parent passed. Is n’t that merely terrible? ‘ This overtly equivocal soliloquy could non hold been possible without the plethoric usage of euphemisms. A euphemism is considered to be a soft or obscure look for something that might otherwise pique person ( Floyd, 2009 ) . In the aforesaid scenario, the fabricated Mary had sex with Jim, was fired by her foreman. She ‘s pregnant- and it happened after her female parent died. This actual interlingual rendition is much more blunt than the first and may floor the intended audience. This paper will explicate the four beginnings of euphemisms and the social demand to utilize euphemisms in interpersonal communicating while concentrating on the negative facets of such usage. Euphemisms have been a field of much involvement to sociolinguists as this component of address is every bit much a survey of linguistic communication as it is a window to cultural psychological science. Researchers show that euphemisms non merely move as a more polite auxiliary vocabulary but may besides thin the message moving as a disguise tactic induced by an over-familiarity with the replacing phrases. In such research, euphemisms are condemned as a manner society has placed so small intending in such phrases that communicating of one time heart-wrenching topics like decease, war, and gender are now hardly regarded with any emotion whatsoever ( McGlone, Beck, & A ; Pfiester, 2009 ) .
Origin and Application
Euphemisms are non a of course happening atom of address or communicating, but instead a culturally-crafted addendum. Yucai Huang, of the Huaiyin Teachers College, is a taking bookman in the beginnings and evolvement of the English euphemism. Harmonizing to Huang there are four chief grounds that euphemisms exist in interpersonal communicating. Taboo is the first conceiver of this address qualifier. Peoples one time believed that words did non merely hold power to pass on with other people, but that words had power to allure the destinies of the Gods. These superstitious impressions resulted in societies avoiding words that had negative significances such as ‘disease ‘ or ‘death. ‘ By avoiding the existent word, many thought that they could avoid the existent state of affairs ( 2005 ) . To this twenty-four hours this credulous pattern still occurs – in illustration, the vocalization “ do n’t jinks me! ” is frequently found in communicating exchanges where one party does non desire the words of the 2nd party to act upon the state of affairs of the first.
Huang ‘s 2nd cause involves what he deems Elegance. Theoretically worlds tend to seek out what is beautiful or appealing, so when they are confronted with inelegant phenomena in address they will frequently replace a euphemism so as non to sound vulgar. This methodological analysis serves as manner to do a talker more comfy speaking about otherwise uncomfortable topics such as menses, genital organ, and bodily maps ( 2005 ) .
Similarly, Huang ‘s 3rd beginning is based on Politeness. Peoples tend to utilize indirect looks to do their hearers feel more comfy ( 2005 ) . This besides ties into Leech ‘s Principle of Politeness which states that there is an intrinsic demand to carry through the societal codification of being polite. Politeness, in this instance, non lying in gestural gestures such as keeping doors unfastened, but instead utilizing verbal qualifiers to do your hearer more comfy in conversation ( Mair & A ; Leech, 2006 ) . While Elegance is about doing the talker more at easiness, Politeness is about doing the hearer or receiving system of the message more comfy – in illustration, you may present your neighbour to a new group of friends as a ‘sanitation expert ‘ alternatively of presenting him as a ‘garbage adult male. ‘
Last, Disguise is Huang ‘s 4th cause of beginning. This rule covers up something unpleasant by utilizing a more impersonal word ( 2005 ) . On a personal graduated table these euphemisms are frequently used to heighten the feeling you give to others about yourself. In illustration, a individual may state they are a ‘man at autonomy ‘ or ‘self-employed ‘ while literally they are idle or unemployed. In the same manner that a individual might utilize a euphemism as a camouflage on a lower degree, mass media and large-scale corporations are besides perpetrators. After the tragic detonation of the infinite bird Challenger, NASA was good cognizant of how disquieted Americans were, so they referred to the crew ‘s caskets as “ crew transportation containers. ” While the camouflage is obvious, merely the paraphrasing automatically takes some degree of emotion out of the state of affairs ( Hamilton, 2009 ) .
Negative Effectss
While NASA had good purposes to seek to protect the already injured feelings of the American populace, they ended up coming off insensitive and cold. However, in some scenarios, even if it seems like the most sensitive manner to near a topic, euphemisms should be avoided. “ When a euphemism is used to dissemble, misdirect, or pull strings audience response, it is unethical ” ( Hamilton, 2009, pg. 221 ) .
This abuse of euphemism is extremely common in aggregate media. News coverage frequently mislabels tragic events and calamities by utilizing words with weaker intensions. The phrase “ friendly fire ” seems harmless, but its actual interlingual rendition means firing shootings at one ‘s ain military personnels. In that same regard, “ indirect harm ” refers to civilians killed unwittingly ( Floyd, 2009 ) . Both euphemisms carry no heavy emotional weight, but they mask a distressing ferociousness.
The aforesaid illustrations are merely portion of a turning phenomenon dubbed doublespeak ( Floyd, 2009 ) . Doublespeak was originated from two footings ( doublethink and newspeak ) by George Orwell in his celebrated novel 1984. Doublethink was the construct of doubting your original thought or the authorities ‘s original thought – something that was non to be done. Newspeak was the linguistic communication of the society, wherein words were invariably being eliminated from the dictionary to restrict the voice of original idea. His construct was one staff of life out of horror – the thought that all powerful or emotionally charged words, phrases, or state of affairss would be replaced by a meaningless word. In this manner the authorities could command emotionally heavy information utilizing this doublespeak as a kind of codification to sabotage the earnestness of the event. In the novel the chief character Winston is invariably fighting with this construct – the really construct that can be traced back to the over-use of euphemism:
“ Do n’t you see that the whole purpose of Newspeak is to contract the scope of idea? … Has it of all time occurred to your, Winston, that by the twelvemonth 2050, at the really latest, non a individual homo being will be alive who could understand such a conversation as we are holding now? … The whole clime of idea will be different. In fact, there will be no idea, as we understand it now. Orthodoxy means non thinking-not necessitating to believe. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness ” ( Orwell, 1949, pg. 79 ) .
Impression
Much as Orwell suggested over 60 old ages ago, the abundant usage of auxiliary vocabulary in topographic point of emotionally striving subjects will finally take to the desensitizing of such subjects. When a euphemism becomes conventional, people are disposed to utilize it without believing of the significance behind it ( McGlone, Beck, & A ; Pfiester, 2009 ) . Alternatively of doing rough things more endurable, we may be doing the populace so accustomed to these casual ways of pass oning about tragic events, that these unbearable Acts of the Apostless become tolerable ( Floyd, 2009 ) .
Decision
We have all used a euphemism to soften the blow of a rough world. The larger miss in gym category is large boned, non fat. The mentally challenged are slow, non dense. And the 1000s of lives lost in Bosnia was an cultural cleaning, non a race murder ( Hamilton, 2009 ) . Yes, euphemisms have a niceness about them, an about sophisticated air that makes even the most barbarous state of affairs seem pleasant, or at the really least impersonal. However, where does the line get down? At what point does utilizing a euphemism to be polite about the neighbour losing their occupation bleed into utilizing a euphemism to name killing an guiltless individual a ‘casualty. ‘ When was it decided that any decease was insouciant?
Euphemism is a semisynthetic address implement every bit old as civility. Through the rules of Taboo, Elegance, Politeness, and Disguise euphemisms have overtaken interpersonal communicating in such a big manner they are hardly noticeable to the untrained hearer. While these platitude phrases may salvage embarrassment and do hard topics easier to manage, it must be kept in head that some capable affair should non be taken so lightly. Euphemisms are taking to the depletion of existent words by the permutation of qualifiers. In truth, sex is sex, unemployed is unemployed, handicapped is disabled, and decease is decease.
