The Semantic Effects of English Euphemism

Abstract: Euphemism, one of the useful linguistic forms, exists in all kinds of languages. It is a proper form used in our social communication in order to achieve special effects. In semantic area, it is closely related with its associative meaning. The semantic meaning of euphemism employed by human is usually used as an indirect expression to avoid some inappropriate expression. Although they share the same meaning in essence, they could produce different effects respectively. Learning euphemism from semantics angle could make us further learn about semantics and its practical effects in our life.

Key words:  euphemism; semantics; effect

The Effect of Avoidance

# Every country sharing different cultures has its own taboo. These taboos have a close relationship with the meaning implied by euphemism. In communication, avoidance of taboos could be realized by using some alternative meanings. This is why the euphemism could be widely used. Employing euphemism makes the speaker to talk freely.

# With regard to death, it is common that people have no intention to talk about death which is an inevitable process in one’s life journey and a common experience for human beings. It is surely that only few people are not scare death. All these scares and unpleasant feelings have lead people to avoid talking about death. In English countries, people prefer to connect it with its affective meaning to replace death, for example, join the angels, pass away, be at peace, go to one’s long home, be gone to a better land, and join the great majority, etc. In current years, the western country people are likely to use funeral home to express the same or similar meaning of cemetery, since the cemetery will make them feel upset. 

# So euphemism has been widely used in our social communication, to some extent, without it, we cannot continue our talk smoothly, although it means the same with those unpleasant words.

The Effect of Cultivation

# Another effect connoted by euphemism, from its meaning, is the cultivation or politeness. With the development of the society, people are likely to show that they are cultivated and well-educated men. Therefore, when people have to refer to something unpleasant, they will prefer to choose some words which still have the mild and implicit meaning in an acceptable way. Those kinds of words belong to the group of euphemism.

# Politeness, in certain degree, represents the speaker’s education and is one of the vital principles to deal with social relations.

In practice, in order to achieve a politeness effect, people also use connotative meanings which are commendatory or neutral words to substitute those bad meanings. Just as we describe a person who is beautiful, we could use “handsome, charming or attractive” to portray him or her. On the contrary, when talking about someone who is not pretty, we cannot use ugly. It is advisable to use some vague words having the same meaning, such as “plain or ordinary” to instead of them. So politeness effect of euphemism can make people more cultivated in front of others, which is so important in our social interactions.

The Effect of Disguise

# Since euphemism is used as a way to express something which cannot speak directly, sometimes this may make people feel confused. Therefore, the governments or businessmen always use it to disguise the reality. Specifically speaking, it means that they use good words to beautify things which are not beautiful in reality and mask them. By means of euphemism, people can easily escape from embarrassing occasions. But using it in a false way will mislead the public and make things confused. For example, in western community, the poor is called as the needy, later it was changed as the culturally deprived, then to the underprivileged, at last to the disadvantaged. So, in this case, people may feel confused that there are no poor people in that country at all. This is the disguise effect produced by the meaning of words by employing euphemism.

The Effect of Humor

# The last but not the least effect produced by euphemism is to create a humorous atmosphere at semantic level, which could surely make language more humorous. For example, “John seems to be a very unpleasant cup of tea”, which equals the sentence “John is a very disgusting person.” In this case, the speaker uses “a very unpleasant cup of tea” to substitute “a very disgusting person”, which make the whole sentence sound more humorous and vivid. What’s more, together with the indirect and mild tone, euphemism has been given more meanings with full sense of irony. Therefore, the meanings entailed in euphemism could produce different effects in different contexts.

Conclusion

# Euphemism, as a linguistic form, has been applied in every aspects of human’s society. It is one of the useful ways people use to realize the purpose of replacing those unpleasant meanings. To some extent, resorting to it is also the speaker’s positive semantic tactics at a certain time in a certain occasion. As long as people use it in a proper way, it will produce different effects for people’s life comparing to speak directly and forthrightly. Therefore, having a detailed study on the semantic effects of English euphemism could help us have a better understanding of semantics, and we could get a general knowledge of how to use these semantic effects of euphemism to help us express what is unsuitable to say in our future days.