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Euphemisms in your language | ||
Tags: Euphemisms | Vocabulary learning | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room |  | |
| Marin Triglot Groupie Croatia Joined 7059 days ago 50 posts - 51 votes  Speaks: Croatian*, English, Italian Studies: German, Russian, Persian | Message 9 of 53 05 August 2005 at 7:34am | IP Logged | ||
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Well, there are some 'official' terms in Croatian language which are used on TV and in the newspapers, such as 'person with problems in development' (retarded person) etc., but we don't make much use of it. Still the majority of things are called by their name. Eeverybody, even in formal context will say 'old' for a person, 'homeless', 'retarded', 'black', 'abortion', 'mute', 'suicide'... Only politicians during Parliament sessions, when they are throwing accusations one after another usually say 'non-truth' for a lie.
Interestingly, we have a word 'clochard', but it has a wider meaning than just 'homeless'. It would be sth like 'bum'. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| KingM Triglot Senior Member michaelwallaceauthor Joined 7191 days ago 275 posts - 300 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Russian | Message 10 of 53 05 August 2005 at 8:12am | IP Logged | ||
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It's interesting in English how one euphemism will replace another. Mentally retarded was a euphemism for the older terms of idiot, moron, etc. Now we've got such nonsense as "developmentally delayed," and "mentally challenged."
The reason the words took on a negative connotation in the first place haven't gone away. If you're not as smart as the general population, no clever wordage is going to change that. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| victor Tetraglot Moderator United States Joined 7318 days ago 1098 posts - 1056 votes 6 sounds Speaks: Cantonese*, English, FrenchC1, Mandarin Studies: Spanish Personal Language Map | Message 11 of 53 05 August 2005 at 11:22am | IP Logged | ||
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underachiever - behind in school
I have also read a news article that says that a teacher's federation in Britain is suggesting that the word "fail" should never be used. I cannot recall the exact term they wanted to use instead. KingM, I agree with you how the negative connotation doesn't actually go away. I often have to "translate" in my head these euphemisms and replace them with the words that were originally there. Another example: dwarf - midget As for politicians saying "non-truth". In parliamentary systems in Canada, members are not allowed to claim that another member is "lying". 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| administrator Hexaglot Forum Admin Switzerland FXcuisine.com Joined 7376 days ago 3094 posts - 2987 votes 12 sounds Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian Personal Language Map | Message 12 of 53 05 August 2005 at 2:50pm | IP Logged | ||
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Victor, thanks to you I finally understood what underachiever means!
There is a German euphemism that has been borrowed by Russian - the famous Gastarbeiter (guest worker) who is mostly Turkish in the case of Germany and comes from Central Asia in that of Russia. I found some other French euphemisms: People in France pay huge taxes and the word impôt has become a bit taboo on the news, so the expression prélèvements obligatoires (mandatory withholdings) is normally used. Makes things less painful. The French have a high opinion of l'Etat (the state). The French president is often referred to as le chef de l'Etat (the head of the State). He can déclencher le feu nucléaire (to unleash the nuclear fire) from the PC Jupiter underneath the Presidential Palace. French nukes are often referred to as la force de frappe (the strike force) or la force de disuasion (the disuasion force) and their justification is never discussed on mainstream French TV without these exact terms, usually spoken with deference. A big issue in contemporary French society is the massive immigration from North Africa and Africa. This is an extreme taboo in France and the only political party that dares use it a campaign theme has become a pariah in French politics. Not surprisingly, every term around this theme is euphemised. Immigrants are called personnes issues de l'immigration (a person coming from immigration), an Arab (that was the term not so long ago and was not offensive) is now a personne d'origine maghrébine (a person of Maghreb descent) which you can barely use without raising eyebrows nowadays. I once heard star anchorman (anchorperson?) Claire Chazal speak about the UN secretary as Kofi Annan, qui est d'origine Ghanéenne (Kofi Annan, who is from Ghanean descent), as if it would be somehow shocking or offensive to Mr Annan to say that he was a Ghanean. Even to say 'a muslim' you need to say une personne de confession musulmane (a person of muslim faith) by fear of passing for a racist. This makes for rather convoluted language but is understandable if you know the country. Also, French cops are usually called les forces de l'ordre (the forces of Order) on French TV. Please rest assured that I do not judge the use of these euphemisms but cannot help noticing them and can only hope that some people on this forum will enjoy them as much as I do. I encourage students of French to learn them as early as they can as they will certainly encounter them all the time when reading French medias. Edited by administrator on 05 August 2005 at 3:03pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Andy E Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 7103 days ago 1651 posts - 1939 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French | Message 13 of 53 05 August 2005 at 4:57pm | IP Logged | ||
victor, the term proposed was "deferred success"... Andy. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7205 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 14 of 53 05 August 2005 at 7:30pm | IP Logged | ||
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I don't know that my example below is a euphemism per
se. A euphemism would be like "passed away" for "died", or "put to sleep" for euthanizing a pet. A euphemism is also different than slang. I.E. "expecting" is a euphemism for pregnant, but "knocked up" is slang. A more recent phrase is "people skills" for the "the ability to get along with others". Sometimes words can mark different sides of a debate, as in "trabajadores" or "migrant workers" versus "illegal aliens". Edited by luke on 05 August 2005 at 8:03pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| administrator Hexaglot Forum Admin Switzerland FXcuisine.com Joined 7376 days ago 3094 posts - 2987 votes 12 sounds Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian Personal Language Map | Message 15 of 53 06 August 2005 at 8:06am | IP Logged | ||
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I found some Swiss euphemisms!
About a person with diminished mental capacities you would hear il a de la peine (he has some trouble). When you need to send somebody to the insane asylum, it's not nice, so instead of saying it people would use il a été institutionalisé (he has been institutionalized). If it is an old man you send up to a nursing home, you deal with the guilt with on l'a mis dans une maison (we put him in a home). There is an anti-euphemistic way to refer to a nursing home - un mouroir (a dying house). Finally, if it is a dog you need to kill, people would try to hide the ugly act with the word on l'a fait piquer (we had him injected), like if its was some sort of vaccine or on l'a fait endormir (we had him put to sleep) namely poisoned by an overdose of painkillers. Or if you need to deal with the unsavor business of castrating a pet, you might say that on l'a fait stériliser (we had him sterilized) close enough to the English 'neutered'. I guess we understand why people prefer to use euphemisms when dealing with the hard parts of life. Edited by administrator on 08 August 2005 at 12:25pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ElComadreja Senior Member Philippines bibletranslatio Joined 7238 days ago 683 posts - 757 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Portuguese, Latin, Ancient Greek, Biblical Hebrew, Cebuano, French, Tagalog | Message 16 of 53 06 August 2005 at 6:18pm | IP Logged | ||
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Tossing his cookies, talking to Ralph on the big white telephone – Throwing up
Actually the second one might be more of a joke. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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