从合作原则看英语委婉语的使用(3)

2.1.6 Blend word
  A blend word is a form of phonetic distortion in which two or more words are squeezed together both orthographically and phonetically. An example of this is "gezunda for a chamber pot, a term derived from the fact that this object 'goes under the bed'"[8].
2.1.7 Diminutive
  A diminutive is the formation of a new term by nicking or shortening a name and adding a suffix indicating affection or smallness. "Heinie, for example, is the diminutive of 'hind end' and refers to the buttocks"[9].
2.2 Semantic innovation
2.2.1 Borrowing
    Most obviously, euphemisms may be formed by borrowing words from other languages—terms that are less freighted with negative associations. Thus, we use Greek and Latin expressions for many bodily parts and functions. We have coined halitosis (bad breath) from the Latin (halitus) for “breath” and we have substituted micturition for the more vulgar Indo-European “Piss”. In addition, English euphemisms also borrowed a lot of scientific or academic terms, which are believed to be more euphemistic and objective than the usual terms, such as magnetic for “sexy” and perspire for “sweat” and so on.
2.2.2 Widening
    Euphemisms may be made by a semantic process called widening. When a specific term becomes too painful or vivid, we move up in the ladder of abstraction. In this way, cancer becomes growth and a girdle becomes a foundation . Sometimes, in addition to widening we divide the negative connotations of a single direct term between two or more words. Instead of saying “syphilis” openly, we speak of a social disease.
2.2.3 Semantic shift
    Allied to the phenomenon of widening is that of semantic shift. This is the substitution of the whole, or a similar generality, for the specific part we do not choose to discuss. We may create such metonymies (substitutions of the whole for the part) as rear end for “buttocks”. Sometimes, as in the expressions "to sleep with/go to bed with someone"[10], we use words naming the larger event in place of more precise references to the sexual relations that are part of the process.
2.3 Rhetorical devices
2.3.1 Metaphor
    Euphemisms may be made by a process called metaphorical transfer, the comparison of things of one kind to things of another. The euphemisms chosen are often romanticizing, poeticizing and softening of the original words like "go to sleep;     go to his long home; be home and free; rest in peace; be at rest; go to Heaven/Paradise; join one's ancestors; be gathered to one's fathers; join the immorals for die"[11], shock for random bombing, constructive destruction for severe damage, have a road to travel for have a long time to reach an agreement and etc..
2.3.2 Aposiopesis
    In English, there is a kind of rhetoric called aposiopesis that can also act as the way of euphemizing. When we think we should not say something under certain conditions, we suddenly stop as when we say someone is out (of work); she is expecting (a baby); "to take precautions (against pregnancy); to depart (from this world)"[12]