淺談委婉語（英文版）

1、ABriefDiscussiononEuphemism淺談委婉語Ⅰ.WhatisEuphemism1.Thewd“euphemism”derivesfromancientGreek.“Eu”inancientGreekmeanswellsoundingwell.“Pheme”meansspeech.Sothemeaningofthewholewdis“wdsofgoodomen”“goodspeech.”Whenconductingth

2、esocialcommunicationsaccdingtothepoliteprinciplepeoplealwaysusesomeimplicitelegantmildexpressionstoreplacethosethatareharshvulgarviolenttohelpthemovercomethepsychologicalobstaclesgetridoftheunpleasantimaginaryassociation

3、s.DonglinFengEuphemismAMirrofSocialLife2.Aeuphemismisasubstitutionofanagreeablelessoffensiveexpressioninplaceofonethatmayoffendsuggestsomethingunpleasanttothelistener.Wikipedia3.Euphemismmeanstheuseofamildvagueperiphrast

4、ic(轉彎抹角的)expressionasasubstitutefblunt(直言不諱的)precisiondisagreeableuse.ModernEnglishUsage1957Ⅱ.MajFunctioningReplacingtabooEverylanguagehasitsownlinguistictabooavoidingusingtaboooncertainoccasionsisregardedasasymbolofsoci

5、aldevelopment.1.AppearanceInEnglish“homely(不好看)”“plain(一般)”isusedinsteadof“ugly(丑)”todescribeapersonwhoisnotgoodlooking.Intheagewheneveryoneisinpursuitofbeingslender(苗條的)“plumy(豐滿的)”“stout(壯實的)”“heavyset(富態(tài))”areusedtosub

6、stitute“fat(胖)”.Flamepersonweusuallycallthem“physicallyhicapped”.2.AgeInthewestpeopleseldomtalkaboutageitisespeciallythecasefwomen.Themainreasonisthatbeingoldmeansthedecayofvigdeclineofeconomicpoliticalstatus.Inthewestth

7、ereareno“oldpeople(老人)”but“senicitizen”“thelongerlived”.InChinaoldpeoplearerespectedbecauseoftheirrichexperienceaccumulatedwitswhereasinthewestwhenonebecomesoldonewillbekickedoutofthemainstreamofsocietybecomeuseless.3.Di

8、seaseItiscommonfpeoplealloverthewldtoyearnfbeinghealthy.Fdiseasesespeciallytheseriousonestherearealwayseuphemismssuchasthe“bigC(大寫的C)”fcancer“heartcondition(心臟狀況有異)”f“heartattackdisease(心臟病)”.4.DeathAlthoughitisanaturall

9、aweverybodytriesnottousethewd“death”.ThereareoverahundredeuphemismsfdeathinEnglishsuchas“togotosleepfever(長眠)”“topassaway(去世與世長辭)”“tocloseoneseyes(閉眼)”“togotoheaven(上天堂去了)”“tobecalledtogod(被上帝召喚去了)”“torestinpeace(安息了)”“s

10、afeinthearmsofJesus(在耶酥懷里得到平安)”“togotooneslasthome(回老家)”.Shakespeareeverused“shuffleoffthemtalcoil(擺脫人世的紛擾)”toreplace“death”MarkTwaininhisTheAdventuresofTomSawyerused“release(解脫)”f“death”(Itseemedtohimthatlifewasbutatrou

11、bleatbesthemethanhalfenviedJimmyHodgeslatelyreleased.(在他看來，人活著至多不過是一件麻煩事，他非常羨慕剛剛去世的吉姆霍克斯。).Ⅲ.ConclusionEuphemismisalinguisticphenomenonwithalonghisty.Italsohasmanyotherfunctionsthatreflectpeople’slifevividlyincludingdail