从合作原则看英语委婉语的使用(4)

2.3.3Analogy
    Analogy can often be seen in the vocabularies of work. A tendency to elevate menial or unskilled jobs—sometimes substituting a grand title for a large salary—can make offal smell like a rose by promoting garbage men to sanitation engineers or even to waste--reduction managers. By implication, they become highly trained technicians and executives. Health-club staffs become fitness coordinators, and senators now have their shoes shined by the footwear maintenance engineer, formerly the Senate bootblack. Even if you are not a government official, your janitor is now your buiding maintenance engineer.
2.3.4 Understatement
    Understatement displays people’s desire to make their language less painful and direct. So there is never an ugly woman in this world, she is at least plain. Teachers only tell parents that their child is a bit slow for his age, not retarded. And call senior citizen for old person. "Take other's things without permission" can be instead of "steal".
2.3.5 Periphrasis
    Periphrasis is just beating around the bush. People often say euphemisms are weasel words, because people never call a spade a spade when using euphemisms.   Fart is not pleasant to ear, so people call it wind from the behind. Someone wants you to go away, but he only says he will call your carriage for you. Someone living at the government expense may make you envy him, but actually he is in prison. "Many sayings about going to WC make a good use of periphrasis like wash one’s hands, powder one’s nose, spend a penny. So do the 'drop' for 'adjustment downward'[13]"
2.4. Grammatical ways
    According to Bolinger, "Euphemism is not restricted to the lexicon. There are grammatical ways of toning something down”. Therefore, euphemizing should not be limited to lexical ways; it can also be achieved by grammatical ways.
2.4.1 Tense
    In English, tense can lend a little euphemistic color to the expressions for something undesired. Especially when people use want, hope, think and wonder or words like that they may also make use of the tense to sound more euphemistically. For example, I wondered if you would mind helping me? or "I wondered if you could help me?"[14]. Asking help this way, people won’t feel so embarrassed if they were refused.
2.4.2 Syntactical negation
    This method can lesson the painful impact of the language that is not welcomed. We say she is not pretty (Actually she is very ugly), but that is acceptable, because not pretty does not equal to “ugly”, it could be “plain” too. Not pretty has a wider range of meaning than ugly. Similar usages are as the following: I don’t think, I am afraid, I am not sure, I don't like,etc.
2.4.3 First personal pronouns
    The use of first personal pronouns like we, ours, us, etc, can also make our speeches sound more euphemistic. You would feel more welcomed if you used we or our quite often. If a doctor said to you how do we feel today, you would feel very warm and comfortable, because it makes you think that this kind doctor takes your illness as mutual concern.