1. Introduction

“Euphemism is defined in the New Edition of the Oxford Concise Dictionary (1976) as ‘Substitution of mild or vague or roundabout expression for harsh or direct one; expression thus substituted.’ In Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary (1973) the definition reads, ‘Substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant.’ Encyclopedia Britannica (1994) also defines euphemism as ‘a figure of speech in which something of an unpleasant, distressing or indelicate nature is described in less offensive terms’.” Here are some definitions:

1. “(example of the) use of pleasant, mild or indirect words or phrases in place of more accurate or direct ones.”
2. “A polite word or expression that you use instead of a more direct one to avoid shocking or upsetting someone.”
3. “A less direct word used instead of one that is harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing.”
4. “Substitution of mild or vague or roundabout expression for harsh or direct one; Expression thus substituted.”
5. “A polite word or expression that people use to talk about something unpleasant or embarrassing, such as death and sex.”
6. “A euphemism is used as an alternative to a dispreferred expression, in order to avoid possible loss of face: Either one’s own face or, through giving offence, that of the audience, or of some third party.”

This paper introduces the origin of euphemism, the features of euphemism and the functions of euphemism. In the last part, it is about the use of euphemism in our daily life.

2. The origin of euphemisms

2.1 The religious origin of English euphemism

In ancient times, because of the limit of technology and science, people believed in God and ghosts. They believed that many unexplainable phenomena are the results of God; hence they worshipped supernatural things. The names of God and ghosts are among the earliest euphemisms. In Western countries, almost everybody believed in God and did not call the name of God—Jehovah—directly. Instead, many euphemisms were created: “the Almighty, the Supreme Being, Holy One, the Eternal, the Creator, the Maker, the Savior, the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings”[3] p.229. In China, there are also many euphemisms related to religion, for example: people call a monk or a nun “Pu Sa”, “Da Shi”; call weasel as “Huang Xian” and fox as “Hu Xian”.

The Ten Commandments of the Bible prescribe, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain.” That is why there are so many euphemisms. In oral English, using “God” casually would be considered blasphemous. Some adopt the semantic method, such as the Creator, the Maker, the Supreme (Being), Holy One, the Almighty, the Eternal, Our Father, the Savior, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, the Light of the World, Sovereign of the Universe. Some adopt the phonetic method, such as Gad, Gosh, Golly, Godfrey, etc. There are many euphemisms for “the devil”, such as Old Enemy, Old Ned, Old Nick, Old One, Ole’un (Old Man), Old Scratch, Old Serpent, the Old Boy, etc. For example, “He was frightened as if Old Harry were before him.” In English they often use “heck” instead of “hell”. “Hell” also has other expressions: “the other place,” “a very uncomfortable place,” “the other way,” etc. For example, “We were all going direct to Heaven; we were all going direct the other way.”

2.2 To avoid vulgarity and inelegance

Both in the West and in China, matters related to disease, death, excretion and sex are often regarded as vulgar or inelegant. Thus people create many euphemisms to soften them. For example, “thin” and “skinny” are replaced by “slim” and “slender”; “fat/corpulent” becomes “plump,” “strong” and “stout.” In the Middle Ages, people thought words like leg, breast, thigh and pregnancy were closely related to sex, so euphemisms were used: “piano’s limbs” (piano’s leg); “white meat” (chicken breast); “dark meat” (chicken thigh).

As for death, euphemisms are widely used, especially when it concerns one’s own family and friends. Examples include: if anything should happen to me (= when I die); to pass away/on; to depart; to go to sleep; to be no longer with us; to be interred. Death also has humorous expressions: “to pop off,” “to push up daisies,” “to cash in one’s chips,” “to kick the bucket.” Death has an intimate relationship with religion and many euphemisms come from the Bible: to return to dust/earth; to pay the debt of nature; to be called to God/to answer the final summons; to go to heaven; to be at peace; to be asleep in the Arms of God; to yield up the ghost; to launch into eternity; to have one’s name inscribed in the Book of Life, etc. Some death-related words also have euphemistic expressions: “coffin” → “casket”; “dead body” → “earthly remains”; “funeral” → “memorial service”; “graveyard” → “memory garden.”

Most Westerners avoid naming some serious diseases directly. For instance, “terminally ill” is a euphemism for “cancer”; American and British newspapers often name “syphilis” as “social disease”; “leprosy” is called “Hansen’s disease”; “constipation” is called “irregularity”; “tumor” is called “a growth”; “commit suicide” is called “self-deliverance” or “self-violence.” Initialisms are also used to avoid direct mention, such as AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome), Big C (Cancer), VD (Venereal Disease), etc. Other euphemisms include “to die because of a crash” → “old Newton took him”; “hara-kiri” → “happy dispatch”; “an unnatural death” → “to be blown across the creek.”

Nearly all languages consider “sex” a taboo word. In the West, when children asked their parents where they came from, parents often answered that the baby was a visit from the stork. People can say “pregnant” instead of “expecting” or “in the family way”; blunt terms like “fart” have been softened (e.g., “wind from behind”). With the sexual liberation movement, people can speak more freely about sex than in the Victorian age. New euphemisms for sex appeared: “sexual knowledge” → “facts of life”; “pornographic movies” → “adult films”; “cohabitation” → “trial marriage” or “unmarried wife.” With rising divorce rates, euphemisms for divorce emerged: “to break up,” “to split up,” and “matchruptcy” (a blend of “match” and “bankruptcy”). Homosexuality has been called “Greek arts,” “queer,” “gay.” An interesting phrase is “to go to Reno” (Reno, Nevada, known for easy and fast divorces), which became a euphemism for divorce.

2.3 To be polite

In society, people often treat each other politely, and the use of euphemisms can make interactions pleasant. For example, older people do not like to be called “old people” because of the negative connotations of “old” and “weak.” In English, people often use expressions such as “past one’s prime,” “getting on years,” or “senior citizens,” “the longer-lived,” “seasoned men” instead of “old people.” Age—especially a woman’s age—is a sensitive privacy. Euphemistic expressions include “getting on (in years),” “past one’s prime,” “feeling one’s age,” “second childhood,” “a distinguished gentleman,” “a third age.” The elderly may be called “an elder statesman,” “old age pensioner,” or abbreviated as “OAP.” Old people’s homes are euphemistically referred to as a home for adults, a nursing home, a rest home, a private hospital, or a convalescent hospital. Residents there are often termed “residents.”

In Western countries, it is impolite to comment on someone’s figure or weight directly. “Overweight” often replaces “fat.” “Weight-watchers” is a euphemistic reference to people concerned about weight. For females, “a fat girl” might be called “full-figured” or “plump”; for males, “fat” can be softened to “stout”; for children, “chubby.” Conversely, if someone is very thin, euphemisms are used: for males, “lean”; for females, “slim,” “slender,” “willowy” or “svelte.”

3. The functions of euphemisms

3.1 Substitution

According to definitions of euphemism, a great number of English euphemisms serve as substitutions for verbal taboos. The term taboo (ta meaning “mark,” boo meaning “exceedingly”) of Polynesian origin denotes anything linguistic and nonlinguistic that is prohibited or forbidden. Taboo refers to situations in which a word or name can be used in a community only under special conditions, whether only by certain persons or only in certain circumstances. Violating a cultural taboo can be offensive, and so can violating a verbal taboo. The “word” has been and continues to be perceived as a powerful instrument that may evoke evil spirits, make bad things happen, instigate violence and revolution, and numerous other activities. When taboo words cannot be used freely, euphemistic expressions are required. Diplomatic euphemisms have a serious reason for being: they can conceal the things people fear most—death, the dead, or the supernatural—and can eliminate unhappiness, embarrassment and fear, thus relieving people psychologically.

3.2 Politeness

Politeness is another important function that euphemisms serve. “Some of the euphemisms are used to avoid crudeness and indecency for the sake of a polite conversation.” Grice formulated the Cooperative Principle of utterance, in which the Maxim of Manner was defined as “Be perspicuous and specific; to avoid obscurity; to avoid ambiguity; to be brief and to be orderly.” The roundabout nature of euphemisms goes against the Maxim of Manner, which can be explained by Leech’s Politeness Principle: Approbation Maxim—minimize dispraise of other, maximize praise of other. In other words, euphemisms minimize impolite expressions and maximize polite expressions.

3.3 Disguise

Besides substitution and politeness, euphemisms perform a disguise function. Because of their vagueness, euphemisms are an important tool for political leaders, diplomats and statesmen to distort facts, present a false picture of peace and prosperity, and to beautify actions of authority. For example, in the Iraq War, terms like “Operation Iraqi Freedom” were used to beautify military invasion; “possible movement” referred to military attack; “air operation” or “air strikes” for air attack; “enter the war” to show reluctance to fight. The ultimate purpose of diplomatic euphemisms in press conferences is often to disguise or beautify invasive actions or separate words from truth. In American and British societies diplomatic euphemisms are sometimes devised to disguise scandals in wars and politics, to beautify lowly occupations, or to promote sales in advertising.

4. The features of euphemisms

4.1 Nationality

Euphemism is a universal phenomenon in world cultures, but different countries have different manners of production, different lifestyles and different cultures, and these differences are reflected in euphemisms. For example, in the West the word “poor” denotes low social class, so many euphemisms replace it. Consider the following paragraph: “I used to think I was poor. Then they told me I wasn’t poor, I was needy. Then they said it was self-defeating to think of myself as needy, that I was culturally deprived. Then they told me deprived was a bad image, that I was underprivileged. Then they told me that underprivileged was overused, that I was disadvantaged. I still don’t have a dime but I have a great vocabulary!” (Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage). In this paragraph, four words replace “poor”: needy, culturally deprived, underprivileged, disadvantaged.

4.2 Regional differences

Euphemisms are often related to customs. For example, bread is a necessity in British families, hence the phrase “take bread out of someone’s mouth.” The word “humble” is formed from “umble” and “numbles,” both referring to the viscera of animals, especially deer. A thousand years ago, only the aristocracy could eat pies made of venison, while servants ate pies made of the animal viscera.

4.3 Age and gender

Different people use different words to express the same things, especially between men and women, and between children and adults. For example, women often say “to powder one’s nose,” “to freshen up,” while men might say “to go to the toilet,” “to relieve oneself,” or “because nature calls.” Children might say “go to the pot and make number one.”

4.4 Times

Language change is driven by societal needs and development. Over time many words appear and many disappear; euphemisms evolve similarly. For example, different expressions for “pregnant” across time include: “Cancel all her social engagements” (1856); “Be an interesting condition” (1890); “be in a delicate condition” (1895); “be knitting little booties” (1910); “be in a family way” (1920); “be expecting” (1935); “be pregnant” (1956).

5. Conclusion

Euphemism is a universal phenomenon in life. It appears because of religion, to avoid vulgarity and inelegance, and to show politeness. It serves several functions: politeness, substitution and disguise. Euphemisms have features such as nationality, region, age and gender, and times. These elements influence their formation and application. As English learners, we should pay attention to the origin, features, functions and influences of euphemisms and learn how to use them appropriately to improve communication.

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