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Euphemisms in your language | ||
Tags: Euphemisms | Vocabulary learning | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room |  | |
| Giordano Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 7174 days ago 213 posts - 218 votes  3 sounds Speaks: English*, Italian*, French Studies: Cantonese, Greek | Message 17 of 53 06 August 2005 at 8:38pm | IP Logged | |||||
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In English we also say "put in a home", but home is short for nursing home, so it isn't really a euphemism. We also say "institutionalized", but that's because an Insane Assylum is also called an mental institution, although I wouldn't really call that a euphemism.
To my knowledge, an overachiever is somebody who is overly focused on acheiving success (not just in school), and an underacheiver is someone who isn't very driven to succeed, again, not just in school. Both of these terms are common in a scholastic setting, especially towards the last two years of high school when basically every grade is taken into consideration for college acceptance, but also used in a work setting or even to discuss someon's general personality. In a career setting, in a highly competitive field, an underacheiver is comparable to someone who "works to live", compared to an overacheiver, who "lives to work". It is interesting to note how mentally retarded is being replaced by devellopmentally delayed. It is interesting because retarded comes from the French retardé, meaning "delayed". So, the replacement euphemism is actually saying exactly the same thing as the original. As for the French usage of "personne d'origine maghrébine", etc..., Victor was telling me about a similar usage in Ontario (specifically Toronto). Perhaps he can elaborate in a later post, but, from what he's told me, it is common now to talk of a "Canadian of ... origin". So, we have Canadians of Chinese origin, I am a Canadian of Italian origin, etc... Those Canadians descended from early European settlers (those with no real "origin") are referred to as "Mainstream Society". In Montreal, our language is different. We don't have euphamisms for minorities. We just say "Italians", "Greeks", "Haitians", "Arabs", "Chinese", etc... As for "mainstream society", we couldn't use such a term even if we wanted to. You see, everyone in Montreal is a minority! Besides the obvious immigrant groups, the white ("native") Anglophones (who aren't anything like those in Ontario, anyway) are a minority, and the Quebecois are a minority- not in the city (although they will be in 2017) or province , but in the country and continent. So maybe that's why we don't have euphemisms for minorities, as we all feel we are part of one. As for the rest of Quebec, immigrants/minorities constitute such a small minority that there is not yet any need to even discuss them (most immigrants settle in Montreal and surrounding area). Edited by administrator on 08 August 2005 at 12:26pm 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 18 of 53 08 August 2005 at 10:32am | IP Logged | |||||
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I found two new Swiss euphemisms in French:
Parts of cities where you have a high concentration of low-income immigrants and hence some security problems (usually) are now referred to as 'les quartiers', ('the neighborhoods') I think it apes a French expression though I am not sure what devious way it took. If burglars come into your house, you might say that your house has been visitée ('visited'). This is a really silly one, like if it made it less painful. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Nephilim Diglot Senior Member Poland Joined 7145 days ago 363 posts - 368 votes Speaks: English*, Polish | Message 19 of 53 08 August 2005 at 10:53am | IP Logged | |||||
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I think the most common euphemism in British English at the moment is the word 'challenged'. For example, a person is no longer short-sighted but visually challenged; no longer disabled but physically challenged and no longer retarded but mentally challenged.
Of course this has led to the British using these expressions in some very creative ways. For example, a person is no longer bald but follically challenged; no longer short but vertically challenged;no longer skinny but calorifically challenged and no longer poor but financially challenged. Also, there was an interesting story in the British press recently about a teacher who wanted to replace the word 'failure' with the phrase 'deferred success'. Here is the link. It's very interesting http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4697461.stm Edited by Nephilim on 08 August 2005 at 2:34pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| morprussell Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7163 days ago 272 posts - 285 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 20 of 53 08 August 2005 at 11:19am | IP Logged | |||||
These are all common in the United States except for "calorifically challenged". Perhaps they are common in all English speaking countries. Can anyone from Australia, New Zealand, etc comment on this?
You can add a hyperlink by clicking on the "Add Hyperlink" button. It is located between "Underline" and "Add Email Link" The button has a picture of the world with a link of a chain in front of it. Edited by morprussell on 08 August 2005 at 11:21am 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 21 of 53 08 August 2005 at 12:29pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Are there any interesting euphemisms for overweight people? I always wondered if one day we'll hear in America about 'large citizens'.
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| morprussell Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7163 days ago 272 posts - 285 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 22 of 53 08 August 2005 at 1:01pm | IP Logged | |||||
Overweight is an euphemism for fat. Other euphemisms for fat would be, chubby, obese, husky, corpulent, portly, rubenesque, big boned, thick . . . Occasionally I use overweight, obese, and chubby... but usually just plain old fat. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Nephilim Diglot Senior Member Poland Joined 7145 days ago 363 posts - 368 votes Speaks: English*, Polish | Message 23 of 53 08 August 2005 at 2:36pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Administrator,
Thanks for the tip. It was a little tricky at first but now I have got the hang of it. It took me several attempts and there was a certain amount of deferred success invoilved. :-) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Giordano Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 7174 days ago 213 posts - 218 votes 3 sounds Speaks: English*, Italian*, French Studies: Cantonese, Greek | Message 24 of 53 10 August 2005 at 8:39pm | IP Logged | |||||
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There was an article I read in TIME about the Brazilian government releasing a list of eupemisms, but they were utterly ridiculous! I forget at the moment, but, besides the obvious ones such as racial slurs, some forbidden words were a "drunk" ("because alcoholics might be offended"), a "clown" (because "those who make a living out of making others laugh might get offended"- this I remember quite clearly from the article), etc...
I will try to find it and post some of the more interesting ones. Edited by Giordano on 10 August 2005 at 8:40pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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