浅谈英语委婉语及其社会影响(7)

3.1.4. The euphemisms for sex
    Nearly all languages consider “sex” a taboo word. In the west, when children asked their parents where they came from, their parents often answered the baby was a visit from the stork. People can say “pregnant” instead of “expecting” or “in the family way”; “fart” is also written into the dictionary. You can say it directly instead of saying, “wind from behind” It is just because of the movement of “sex liberty” and “sex liberation”. People can have a freer talk about “sex” than Victorian age. On the contrary, some other new euphemisms for sex appeared one after another. “Sexual knowledge” is called “facts of life”; “pornographic movies” is called “adult films”; “cohabitation” has become very common in western society. It is also called a kind of marriage: “trial marriage” or “unmarried wife”. Nevertheless, with the sharp increase of the rate of divorce, there appeared many euphemisms for divorce: “to break up”, “to split up, and “matchruptcy” (a blending of “match” and “bankruptcy”). And the homosexuality would be called “Greek arts”, “queer”, “gay”. There is another interesting phrase “to go to Reno”. “Reno”, a small city in the west of Nevada, is famous for its easy and fast procedures of divorce. So “to go to Reno” also becomes a euphemism for divorce.
3.1.5. The euphemisms for birth
    Contrary to the Chinese traditional opinion, in western countries, “being pregnant” and “having a baby” are not considered “a blessed event”. Australian English even call it “a blasted event”. In America, “to wear the apron high”, “to wear/have the belly high” are euphemisms for “to be pregnant”, while in Britain, “to wear the bustle wrong” is a euphemism for “to be pregnant”. In 19th century, a slim waist is the ideal figure for British women. Therefore, “to be pregnant” is also called “to be awkward”, “in a bad way/shape”; “to make a woman pregnant” is called “to spoil/ruin a woman’s shape”. Some one even called “to be pregnant” “to be caught” or “to be fallen”. Some vague expressions also show a kind of restless mood, such as: that way, in a certain/particular/delicate condition etc. The use of humor is another feature of euphemism for “being pregnant”. American people are likely to say “to have a watermelon on the vine”, or “to swallow a watermelon seed”. British people are likely to say “to have a bun in the oven” or “to have an Irish toothache” (to make fun of Irish people who are pregnant as commonly as having a toothache).
3.2. Courtesy
   Another reason to use euphemism is that it avoids the harsh and direct word in a polite way, and makes the sentence sound more pleasant. To grasp the polite function of euphemism can help you build a good relationship with others. The polite functions are especially reflected in the occupations, or trades. It relate with Politeness Principle of Leech[17]. It is obvious that advertisement is aimed at helping businessmen propaganda their goods, for the sake of soliciting customs. As a pleasant way, using euphemisms in advertisements has become more and more widespread. Now, “secondhand store” has been replaced by “resale store”, “super”, “giant”, “special”, such words, have become more popular. Moreover, we can often see the same phenomenon about the expressions for classes of cabins. To defend passengers ’honor, “First Class” is changed to “Deluxe Class”, “Second Class” is to “First Class”, “Third Class” to “Business Class”, and “Economic Class” to “Tourist Class”. This function undoubtly plays an active role of improving the progress of society: