Semantic and stylistic aspect of euphemisms in modern english

Министерство  Образования и  Науки Республики Казахстан

Республиканское государственное  казенное предприятие

Восточно-Казахстанский  государственный  университет 

им. С. Аманжолова

Филологический  Факультет 
 

Кафедра английского языка 
 

Дипломная работа

    на тему: semantic and stylistic aspect of euphemisms in modern english 

Научный руководитель:

Старший преподаватель       Г. Г. Сейлкумарова 

«___» ________ 200_г.   

Зав.кафедрой английского  языка,

к.ф.н, доцент         С.С.Нуркенова

«___» ________ 200_г. 

Выполнил(-а) студент(-ка)

Группы 4В №404 Л. Х. Акатаева

«___» ________ 200_г. 

Нормоконтролер   Т. А. Васильева

«___» ________ 200_г. 
 
 

Усть-Каменогорск, 2009

CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTION                                                                                                      3

1 LINGUISTIC ASPECT OF EUPHEMISMS IN MODERN ENGLISH                        7

1.1 Conceptual world view behind euphemisms                                                               7  

1.2 Definition and function of euphemisms                                                                                   8

1.3 The evolution of euphemisms                                                                                       11

1.4 The etymology of euphemisms                                                                                   13

1.5 Taboos and euphemisms                                                                                             15

2 SEMANTIC WORD BEHIND EUPHEMISMS                                                            17

2.1 Classification of euphemisms on the semantic principle                                                       17

3 EUPHEMISMS AS EXPRESSIVE MEANS AND STYLISTIC DEVICE IN             MODERN ENGLISH                                                                                              34

3.1 Feelings and emotions caused by the process of euphemistic mapping                                         34

3.2 Interaction of emotions and ethnic culture in euphemisms                                                              36

    3.3 Cognitive structure of  source and target domains in the process of new euphemistic nominations                                                                                                                     38

3.4  Differences  of  euphemistic  projection  in  image  schemes  and  newly

    nominated euphemisms                                                                                           40                                                                                  

3.5 Psychological aspect of studying euphemisms and dysphemisms                                                         42

CONCLUSION                                                                                                           45

BYBLIOGRAPHY                                                                                                      48                                                                                                                                 

APPENDIX A – Glossary of euphemisms                                                                  52                                                                                   

      APPENDIX B -  General classification of euphemisms and dysphemisms from    psychological point of view                                                                 58

APPENDIX C- Classification  of  euphemisms  according  to  the  thematical

               subdivision                                                                                          60                                                                                   

                                                                                                                     6 
 
 
 

INTRODUCTION 

       Euphemisms for the majority of people is the device to create humorous situation. most can get along without them in everyday life, but they are found everywhere not only in emotive prose but also in the publicistic style, in highly emotional speech, in extreme cases to lessen the impact of the situation on the people making it sound milder. Our conceptual system plays a central role in defining our everyday realities. The perception may be global or local. Global world view is presented by philosophical, scientific, religious world views. Local world view is presented through sociological, informational, physical, artistic world views. Conceptual world view is very rich, it covers a lot of things. It contains different communicative types of thinking, verbal and nonverbal. As the language is the spirit of the people speaking it, we may state that the inner forms of the language and the conceptual world view behind the language is realized through languages.  Any language forms the world view behind the language and at the same time it reflects world other views. The most important sphere of a man’s world and his personality is the sphere of emotions. It is the sphere of psychology and emotive evaluations. Our emotional world is one of the local world views behind the language. The act of cognition is emotionally coloured. Emotions cover all our spheres of life. The objective world is endless, but a man is limited in the process of cognition. Any world view contains personal subjective cognition. Thus we speak of personal, subjective interpretation of the objective world. A man reacts to the outer and inner pressure by different states of activities: perception, expressing wishes, points of view, speaking, and physical activities.

       Any euphemisms may be defined as a substitution of an agreeable or less offensive expression in place of the one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant to the listener. It makes expression less troublesome for the speaker. Anthropocentric nature of euphemisms is well-known. Our universal emotions are characterized by national peculiarities. The following linguists as Kacev A. M., Keith Allan, Kate Burridge, Obvinceva O. V., Neuman and Sibker investigated euphemisms as linguistic and unique phenomena of the language in comparative linguistics, stylistics, euphemisms in publicistic style , pragmatic aspect of euphemisms and their stylistic aspect.

       Our investigation is based on the interaction of psychology, linguistics and stylistics. We analyzed not only euphemistic mapping in our conceptual system, but also their impact on the listener.

       The object of our investigation is euphemisms as semantic and stylistic phenomenon in the English language.

       The subject of study is emotive prose in the English language (British and American literature).

       The aims of the paper are the following:

  1. to systematize euphemisms on the semantic principle;
  2. to describe the interaction of emotions and ethnic culture in euphemisms;
  3. to investigate, cognate structure of source and target domain in newly-nominated euphemisms;
  4. to investigate psychological aspect of euphemistic mapping.

       To achieve these aims we set the following tasks:

  1. to observe scientific literature on the interaction of psychology, linguistics and stylistics;
  2. to define theoretical grounds of euphemistic mapping;
  3. to describe our conceptual system through euphemisms;
  4. to examine the procedure of the formation of euphemisms.

       The novelty of our investigation lies in the new approach of the cognition of the conceptual world view behind the language through euphemisms.

       The actuality of the paper is defined by the necessity to study the nature of euphemistic mapping from source domain to target domain.

       The practical value of the paper consists of the application of the results of the investigation in the course of stylistics, text interpretation, theory and practice of translation.

       The following methods have been applied:

  1. descriptive;
  2. comparative analysis of literature on stylistics, phraseology, semaseology, psycholinguistics;
  3. analysis of euphemistic, stylistic projections in the English literature.

       The materials of our study are:

  1. examples from classical English literature;
  2. Russian – English dictionaries.

       Approbation of the paper was reported at the Scientific Conference held at the East – Kazakhstan State University in April, 2009.

       Our hypothesis is that the notion of euphemistic mapping can be referred not only to the sphere stylistic devices, but it can be accepted as a universal means of the cognition of the world. Euphemisms intercepted from different sources underwent  thorough linguistic and stylistic analysis.

       The first part presents theoretical backgrounds of euphemistic mapping: the origin, evolution, etymology, taboos and euphemisms. Euphemisms being defined as a linguistic phenomenon have direct reference to stylistics where it is defined as a stylistic means.

       The second part contains the information about semantic world behind euphemisms. Classifications of euphemisms on the semantic principle.

       The third part is devoted to stylistic analysis of new nominated euphemisms, their pejorative coloring. Different feelings and emotions are involved into the process of euphemistic mapping. The description of the procedure of the formation of euphemisms is closely connected with the psychological aspect of their study.

       We came to the conclusion that euphemistic mapping is found in all spheres of our life. Euphemisms, which are meant to soften the impact of the pressure of the situation on the speaker, call immediately a line of synonyms from which we choose the world with pejorative coloring.

       They may be used to denote the feeling of fear, shame, odium.

       The opposition to euphemisms there are so-called dysphemisms, the words which are used to aggravate the situation to make it more offensive. These words become dominating in the English vocabulary. Their negative connotations make people narrow their local world view up to dominating negative impression over positive ones.

       Our hypothesis was justified. It is really a universal means of the cognition of the objective global world. With euphemisms we connect very positive emotions that make our life easier and happier.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

       1 LINGUISTIC ASPECT OF EUPHEMISMS IN MODERN ENGLISH 

       
    1. Conceptual world view behind euphemisms
 

       World view is the result of spiritual world of man, his reconsideration of the objective world values. The world image comes to a human being in the process of perception, evaluation, understanding inner spiritual work. It is possible to build up a typology of language and conceptual world views. It only depends on the fact that who the subject of perception is: an adult or a child. The object of perception may be global or local world view. Global world view is presented by philosophical, scientific, religious world views. Local world view is presented by sociological, informational, physical, artistic world views. Scientific world view isn’t stable; its present state is the ideal state of the present characteristic of the stage of scientific development and achievements. It changes historically with the change of paradigm of knowledge.

       Conceptual world view is very rich; it covers a lot of things. It contains and consists of different communicative types of thinking, verbal and nonverbal things. It goes back to Humboldt’s philosophy of the essence of the language. According to Humboldt, any language is the spirit of the people speaking it. This probably is based on the fact that the inner forms of the language and the conceptual world view behind the language are connected and realized through the language. Language participates in two processes:

  1. It forms the world view behind the language;
  2. It reflects and expresses other world views.

       Language is a complicated thing. It is variable, changeable, unstable, but it contains some stable elements contributing to a better understanding among people.

       The most important sphere of a man’s and a woman’s personality is the sphere of emotions. It is the sphere of psychology and emotive evaluations. Emotional world of a man is one of the local world views behind the language. The act of cognition is emotionally colored. Emotions cover all spheres of human activities. They are very important when we speak of a human’s factor in the language. The picture of the world isn’t only the world view behind the language, but first of all, it is the subjective world view of the real world created in the head of a man.

       The objective world is endless, but a man is limited in the process of cognition. Any world view behind the language contains personal subjective cognition of the world. That is why we speak of personal, subjective interpretation of the objective world. The language world view may be investigated in two aspects:

  1. Static;
  2. Dynamic

       The first presents the world view behind the language as the result of the process that has already taken place. The second approach helps to understand how the world view behind the language is formed with the help of different language means. A man is a dynamic active human being. He fulfills three different types of actions: physical, intellectual, speaking. A man reacts to the outer and the inner pressure which may be found in different states of activities: perception, expressing wishes, points of view, emotions and feelings. Every type of activity, states of mood, reactions are governed by certain systems located in the organs of a human body, which reacts to the outer pressure. 

       
    1. Definition and function of euphemisms
 

       A euphemism is a substitution of an agreeable or less offensive expression in place of one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant to the listener, or in the case of doublespeak, to make it less troublesome for the speaker.[citation needed] It also may be a substitution of a description of something or someone rather than the name, to avoid revealing secret, holy, or sacred names to the uninitiated, or to obscure the identity of the subject of a conversation from potential eavesdroppers. Some euphemisms are intended to be funny.

       Euphemism, as is known, is a word or phrase used to replace an unpleasant word or expression by a conventionally more acceptable one, for example, the word 'to die' has bred the following euphemisms: to pass away, to expire, to be no more, to depart, to join the majority, to be gone, and the more facetious ones: to kick the bucket, to give up the ghost. So euphemisms are synonyms which aim at producing a deliberately mild effect. Euphemism is sometimes figuratively called "a whitewashing device". The linguistic peculiarity of euphemism lies in the fact that every euphemism must call up a definite synonym in the mind of the reader or listener.

       Many euphemisms are so delightfully ridiculous that everyone laughs at them. (Well, almost everyone: The people who call themselves the National Selected Morticians usually manage to keep from smiling. ) Yet euphemisms have very serious reasons for being. They conceal the things people fear the most—death, the dead, the supernatural. They cover up the facts of life—of sex and reproduction and excretion—which inevitably remind even the most refined people that they are made of clay, or worse. They are beloved by individuals and institutions (governments, especially) who are anxious to present only the handsomest possible images of themselves to the world. And they are embedded so deeply in our language that few of us, even those who pride themselves on being plainspoken, ever get through a day without using them.

       The same sophisticates who look down their noses at little boys' room and other euphemisms of that ilk will nevertheless say that they are going to the bathroom when no bath is intended,- that Mary has been sleeping around even though she has been getting precious little shut-eye,- that John has passed away or even departed (as if he'd just made the last train to Darien),- and that Sam and Janet are friends, which sounds a lot better than "illicit lovers."

       Thus, euphemisms are society's basic lingua non franca. As such, they are outward and visible signs of our inward anxieties, conflicts, fears, and shames. They are like radioactive isotopes. By tracing them, it is possible to see what has been (and is) going on in our language, our minds, and our culture.

       A euphemism is the substitution of an inoffensive expression, or one with favorable associations, for an expression that may offend because of its disagreeable associations.

       Pass away is a euphemism for die , put (animals) to sleep for kill , perspire for sweat, nurse for suckle, agent for spy, dentures for false teeth .

       Euphemisms are particularly common for the process of reproduction and excretion and for activities, people, and bodily parts involved in those processes. People vary in what they consider to be offensive, and toleration for blunt language also varies from period to period. A euphemism may eventually acquire unpleasant associations and give way to later euphemisms: toilet and lavatory , themselves euphemisms, are frequently replaced by othe euphemisms, such as cloakroom.

       Euphemisms can be used legitimately for politeness and tact, but they are dishonest when they are used to avoid facing unpleasant activities or to conceal and deceive. Dishonest uses are frequent in political and military language: Hitler's plan for the extermination of the Jews was called the final solution, protective custody has been used for imprisonment, industrial action for strikes, police action for war and armed reconnaissance for bombing [1, p.61].

       When a phrase is used as a euphemism, it often becomes a metaphor whose literal meaning is dropped. Euphemisms may be used to hide unpleasant or disturbing ideas, even when the literal term for them is not necessarily offensive. This type of euphemism is used in public relations and politics, where it is sometimes called doublespeak. Sometimes, using euphemisms is equated to politeness. There are also superstitious euphemisms, based (consciously or subconsciously) on the idea that words have the power to bring bad fortune (for example, not speaking the word "cancer"; see etymology and common examples below), and there are religious euphemisms, based on the idea that some words are sacred, or that some words are spiritually imperiling (taboo; see etymology and religious euphemisms below).

       Euphemisms are words we use to soften the reality of what we are communicating to a given listener or reader. They are a universal feature of language usage; all cultures typically use them to talk about things they find terrifying (e.g., war, sickness, death) because, anthropologically, "to speak a name was to evoke the divinity whose power then had to be confronted" [10, p. 69-75]. Similarly, we use euphemisms to express taboos, as we feel, on some instinctual level, that the euphemism keeps us at safe distance from the taboo itself. Another use of euphemisms is to elevate the status of something (e.g., using educator for teacher, attorney for lawyer); but in general, we use euphemisms to express what is socially difficult to express in direct terms.  

       
    1. The evolution of euphemisms
 

       Euphemisms may be formed in a number of ways. Periphrasis or circumlocution is one of the most common — to "speak around" a given word, implying it without saying it. Over time, circumlocutions become recognized as established euphemisms for particular words or ideas.

       To alter the pronunciation or spelling of a taboo word (such as a swear word) to form a euphemism is known as taboo deformation. There is an astonishing number of taboo deformations in English, of which many refer to the infamous four-letter words. In American English, words which are unacceptable on television, such as fuck, may be represented by deformations such as freak — even in children's cartoons. Some examples of Cockney rhyming slang may serve the same purpose — to call a person a berk sounds less offensive than to call him a cunt, though berk is short for Berkeley Hunt which rhymes with cunt.

       Bureaucracies such as the military and large corporations frequently spawn euphemisms of a more deliberate (and to some, more sinister) nature. Organizations coin doublespeak expressions to describe objectionable actions in terms that seem neutral or inoffensive. For example, a term used in the past for contamination by radioactive isotopes is Sunshine units.

       Military organizations kill people, sometimes deliberately and sometimes by mistake; in doublespeak, the first may be called neutralizing the target and the second collateral damage. Violent destruction of non-state enemies may be referred to as pacification. Two common terms when a soldier is accidentally killed (buys the farm) by their own side are friendly fire or blue on blue (BOBbing) — "buy the farm" has its own interesting history.

       Execution is an established euphemism referring to the act of putting a person to death, with or without judicial process. It originally referred to the execution, i.e., the carrying out, of a death warrant, which is an authorization to a sheriff, prison warden, or other official to put a named person to death. In legal usage, execution can still refer to the carrying out of other types of orders; for example, in U.S. legal usage, a writ of execution is a direction to enforce a civil money judgment by seizing property. Likewise, lethal injection itself may be considered a euphemism for putting the convict to death by poisoning.

       Abortion originally meant premature birth, and came to mean birth before viability. The term "abort" was extended to mean any kind of premature ending, such as aborting the launch of a rocket. Euphemisms have developed around the original meaning. Abortion, by itself, came to mean induced abortion or elective abortion exclusively. Hence the parallel term spontaneous abortion, an "act of nature", was dropped in favor of the more neutral-sound miscarriage [37, p. 137].

       Industrial unpleasantness such as pollution may be toned down to outgassing or runoff — descriptions of physical processes rather than their damaging consequences. Some of this may simply be the application of precise technical terminology in the place of popular usage, but beyond precision, the advantage of technical terminology may be its lack of emotional undertones and the likelihood the general public (at least initially) will not recognize it for what it really is; the disadvantage being the lack of real-life context. Terms like "waste" and "wastewater" are also avoided in favor of terms such as byproduct, recycling, reclaimed water and effluent. In the oil industry, oil-based drilling muds were simply renamed organic phase drilling muds, where organic phase is a euphemism for "oil".

       Latinate Roots of Euphemisms

       A great number of euphemisms in English come from words with Latinate roots. Farb (1974) writes that after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066,

       "…the community began to make a distinction between a genteel and an obscene vocabulary, between the Latinate words of the upper class and the lusty Anglo-Saxon of the lower. That is why a duchess perspired and expectorated and menstruated--while a kitchen maid sweated and spat and bled." [28, p. 46-49]

       The linguistic differences between earthy, direct Anglo-Saxon words and elegant, often euphemistic Latinate words have been largely ignored in language learning, despite the fact that knowledge of these differences is essential to natural, native like use of English. Similarly, euphemisms themselves - Latinate or otherwise--have been ignored in language learning, even though they are usually semantically opaque to learners and continue to be invented and employed.

       Below is a short glossary of common words with some of their current, popular euphemisms. (Some euphemisms, it will be seen, have become euphemized themselves.) Following the glossary is a lesson for learners at the intermediate level.  

       
    1. The etymology of euphemisms
 

       The word euphemism comes from the Greek word euphemo, meaning "auspicious/good/fortunate speech/kind" which in turn is derived from the Greek root-words eu (ευ), "good/well" + pheme (φήμη) "speech/speaking". The eupheme was originally a word or phrase used in place of a religious word or phrase that should not be spoken aloud; etymologically, the eupheme is the opposite of the blaspheme (evil-speaking). The primary example of taboo words requiring the use of a euphemism are the unspeakable names for a deity, such as Persephone, Hecate, or Nemesis [24, p. 159]

       Historical linguistics has revealed traces of taboo deformations in many languages. Several are known to have occurred in Indo-European languages, including the original Proto-Indo-European words for bear (*rtkos), wolf (*wlkwos), and deer (originally, hart; the deformation likely occurred to avoid confusion with heart). In different Indo-European languages, each of these words has a difficult etymology because of taboo deformations — a euphemism was substituted for the original, which no longer occurs in the language. An example is the Slavic root for bear — *medu-ed-, which means "honey eater". One example in English is "donkey" replacing the old Indo-European-derived word "ass". The word "dandelion" (lit., tooth of lion, referring to the shape of the leaves) is another example, being a substitute for pissenlit, meaning "wet the bed", a possible reference to the fact that dandelion was used as a diuretic [17, p. 46]

       In some languages of the Pacific, using the name of a deceased chief is taboo. Amongst indigenous Australians, it is forbidden to use the name, image, or audio-visual recording of the deceased, so that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation now publishes a warning to indigenous Australians when using names, images or audio-visual recordings of people who have died.

       Since people are often named after everyday things, this leads to the swift development of euphemisms. These languages have a very high rate of vocabulary change [3, p.167].

       In a similar manner, classical Chinese texts were expected to avoid using characters contained within the name of the currently ruling emperor as a sign of respect. In these instances, the relevant ideographs were replaced by homophones. While this practice creates an additional wrinkle for anyone attempting to read or translate texts from the classical period, it does provide a fairly accurate means of dating the documents under consideration.

       The common names of illicit drugs, and the plants used to obtain them, often undergo a process similar to taboo deformation, because new terms are devised in order to discuss them secretly in the presence of others. This process often occurs in English (e.g. speed or crank for meth). It occurs even more in Spanish, e.g. the deformation of names for cannabis: mota (lit., "something which moves" on the black market), replacing grifa (lit., "something coarse to the touch"), replacing marihuana (a female personal name, María Juana), replacing cañamo (the original Spanish name for the plant, derived from the Latin genus name Cannabis). All four of these names are still used in various parts of the Hispanophone world, although cañamo ironically has the least underworld connotation, and is often used to describe industrial hemp, or legitimate medically-prescribed cannabis [19, p. 107] 

       
    1. Taboos and euphemisms
 

       Introduction euphemisms and dysphemisms is better to do with the defining terms "euphemism" and "dysphemism". "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 some third party" [5, p. 41]. Euphemism is a word or an expression that people use instead of indecent, indelicate, rude, too direct or impolite words and expressions. The opposite sides of euphemisms are taboo words and dysphemisms. "A dysphemism is an expression with connotations that are offensive either about the denotatum or to the audience, or both, and it is substituted for a neutral or euphemistics expression for just that reason" [18, p. 76]. It is important to say that euphemisms are opposed with taboo words because of cause and effect relations. Dysphemisms are opposed with euphemisms because of the evaluation content basis. The function of dysphemisms is to aggravate a denotatum with any evaluation content at the expense of more negative one.

       A dysphemism is a word or an expression that is generally used to offend somebody deliberately. It paints a negative picture without seemingly lying. For example the phrase "My boss is something else" doesn't carry something swearing bit it is slanted towards negativity.

       What is actually considered to be euphemistic and what is considered to be dysphemistic depends on the speaker and the way he or she interprets the message. At the same time a euphemism may loose its ennobling characteristics and turn into a dysphemism and it is required to be replaced. For example, the word "black" was a euphemism for the word with a negative connotation "negro" [21, p. 60]. But the frequent using the word "black" as a euphemism had deleted its meaning and has transferred the word "black" to the category of the direct names.

       The psychological aspect pays attention to "straight to the generating motives".

       In lexicology the studying of euphemisms and dysphemisms from the psychological point of view is well-done. At present according to the generating motives there are five groups of euphemisms that have appeared because of: 1) superstition, 2) the feeling of fear, 3) sympathy and compassion, 4) the feeling of shame and, 5) the feeling of politeness.

       To V. I. Zabotkina's opinion some pragmatic reasons are the base of the generating motives. At first, it is a politeness, which has defined the creation of euphemisms for physical and mental defects. Secondly, taboo words, when euphemisms were used instead of direct names of diseases and deaths. Thirdly, it's the influence the general readers. Fourthly, it's restricness, which has influenced the creation of euphemisms within the different social illegal groups [23, p.98-103].

       According to А. M. Kacev's classification of generating motives there are three emotional spheres: fear, odium and shame [24, p. 68].

       Linguists say these or those emotions are generating motives for the creation both euphemisms and dysphemisms. And perhaps the development of nominations with pejorative evaluation content was the base of making dysphemisms.

       At present this kind of words gets into high level of vocabulary. Using words with negative meaning and invectives the speaker feels the magic influence that he or she is everything allowed. The domination of such words is a natural thing because people perceive negative sides of life more violent than positive ones. The latter is regarded as normal and that is why they are less emotive. Of course it is easier to hold somebody up to shame than to praise somebody to the skies.

       The general classification of euphemisms and dysphemisms from the psychological point of view can be represented in a table. 

 

        2. SEMANTIC WORLD BEHIND EUPHEMISMS 

       2.1 Classification of euphemisms on the thematic principle 

       Many euphemisms fall into one or more of these categories:

       Terms of foreign and/or technical origin (derrière, copulation, perspire, urinate, security breach, mierda de toro, prophylactic, feces occur, sheisst).

       Abbreviations (SOB for son of a bitch, BS for bullshit, TS for tough shit, SOL for shit out of luck or PDQ for pretty damn(ed) quick. BFD for big fucking deal, STFU or STHU for shut the fuck/hell up, RTFM for read the fucking manual).

       Abbreviations using a spelling alphabet, especially in military contexts (Charlie Foxtrot for "Cluster fuck", Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Oscar for "What the fuck, over?", Bravo Sierra for "bullshit" — See Military slang).

       Plays on abbreviations (H-e-double hockey sticks for "hell", "a-double snakes" or "a-double-dollar-signs" for "ass", Sugar Honey Iced Tea for "shit", bee with an itch or witch with a capital B for "bitch", catch (or see) you next Tuesday (or Thursday) for "cunt").

       Use in mostly clinical settings (PITA for "pain in the ass" patient).

       Abbreviations for phrases that are not otherwise common (PEBKAC for "Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair", ID Ten T Error or ID-10T Error for "Idiot", TOBAS for "Take Out Back And Shoot") [6, p. 94].

       Abstractions and ambiguities (it for excrement, the situation for pregnancy, going to the other side for death, do it or come together in reference a sexual act, tired and emotional for drunkenness.).

       Indirections (behind, unmentionables, privates, live together, go to the bathroom, sleep together, sub-navel activities).

       Mispronunciation (goldarnit, dadgummit, efing c (fucking cunt), freakin, be-atch,shoot — See minced oath).

       Litotes or reserved understatement (not exactly thin for "fat", not completely truthful for "lied", not unlike cheating for "an instance of cheating").

       Changing nouns to modifiers (makes her look slutty for "is a slut", right-wing element for "Right Wing").

       Slang (for eg. pot for marijuana, laid for sex and so on).

       There is some disagreement over whether certain terms are or are not euphemisms. For example, sometimes the phrase visually impaired is labeled as a politically correct euphemism for blind. However, visual impairment can be a broader term, including, for example, people who have partial sight in one eye, or even those with uncorrected poor vision, a group that would be excluded by the word blind [11, p. 65].

       There are three antonyms of euphemism: dysphemism, cacophemism, and power word. The first can be either offensive or merely humorously deprecating with the second one generally used more often in the sense of something deliberately offensive. The last is used mainly in arguments to make a point seem more correct. 

       2.1.1 Religious euphemisms 

       Euphemisms for deities as well as for religious practices and artifacts date to the earliest of written records. Protection of sacred names, rituals, and concepts from the uninitiated has always given rise to euphemisms, whether it be for exclusion of outsiders or the retention of power among select practitioners. Examples from the Egyptians and every other western religion abound.

Semantic and stylistic aspect of euphemisms in modern english