浅谈英语委婉语及其社会影响 [7]
论文作者:林芳斌 论文属性:短文 essay登出时间:2009-04-06编辑:黄丽樱点击率:12742
论文字数:6562论文编号:org200904061101332556语种:英语 English地区:中国价格:免费论文
关键词:Euphemismapplicationsocial influencepositivenegative委婉语运用社会影响积极消极
r another. “Sexual knowledge” is called “facts of life”; “pornographic movies” is called “adult films”; “cohabitation” has become very common in western society. It is also called a kind of marriage: “trial marriage” or “unmarried wife”. Nevertheless, with the sharp increase of the rate of divorce, there appeared many euphemisms for divorce: “to break up”, “to split up, and “matchruptcy” (a blending of “match” and “bankruptcy”). And the homosexuality would be called “Greek arts”, “queer”, “gay”. There is another interesting phrase “to go to Reno”. “Reno”, a small city in the west of Nevada, is famous for its easy and fast procedures of divorce. So “to go to Reno” also becomes a euphemism for divorce.
3.1.5. The euphemisms for birth
Contrary to the Chinese traditional opinion, in western countries, “being pregnant” and “having a baby” are not considered “a blessed event”. Australian English even call it “a blasted event”. In America, “to wear the apron high”, “to wear/have the belly high” are euphemisms for “to be pregnant”, while in Britain, “to wear the bustle wrong” is a euphemism for “to be pregnant”. In 19th century, a slim waist is the ideal figure for British women. Therefore, “to be pregnant” is also called “to be awkward”, “in a bad way/shape”; “to make a woman pregnant” is called “to spoil/ruin a woman’s shape”. Some one even called “to be pregnant” “to be caught” or “to be fallen”. Some vague expressions also show a kind of restless mood, such as: that way, in a certain/particular/delicate condition etc. The use of humor is another feature of euphemism for “being pregnant”. American people are likely to say “to have a watermelon on the vine”, or “to swallow a watermelon seed”. British people are likely to say “to have a bun in the oven” or “to have an Irish toothache” (to make fun of Irish people who are pregnant as commonly as having a toothache).
3.2. Courtesy
Another reason to use euphemism is that it avoids the harsh and direct word in a polite way, and makes the sentence sound more pleasant. To grasp the polite function of euphemism can help you build a good relationship with others. The polite functions are especially reflected in the occupations, or trades. It relate with Politeness Principle of Leech[17]. It is obvious that advertisement is aimed at helping businessmen propaganda their goods, for the sake of soliciting customs. As a pleasant way, using euphemisms in advertisements has become more and more widespread. Now, “secondhand store” has been replaced by “resale store”, “super”, “giant”, “special”, such words, have become more popular. Moreover, we can often see the same phenomenon about the expressions for classes of cabins. To defend passengers ’honor, “First Class” is changed to “Deluxe Class”, “Second Class” is to “First Class”, “Third Class” to “Business Class”, and “Economic Class” to “Tourist Class”. This function undoubtly plays an active role of improving the progress of society:
3.2.1. The euphemism for the office and trade
For example, “mental hospital or mental health center” is a euphemism for “madhouse”; “mortuary or funeral” is a euphemism of dead house. Some small companies or small enterprises like to use the word “industry”, such as hotel industry, tourist industry, garage industry, women’s beauty industry etc.
3.2.2. The euphemism for occupation
In order to promote the social status of the occupation, almost every humble occupation has a sweet-sounding name. There are ma
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