Talk:Euphemism/Archive 1

I hope this page is at an appropriate level of (in)offensiveness. If anyone feels it is necessary to explain what the example euphemisms mean, I suppose it must be done. (Those taboos are powerful things,) -- Janet Davis

I'm not sure I agree with "longer words". If the word has the same meaning that the one not being used can you call it an euphemism?

Well, "urinate" is certainly more polite than "piss," isn't it? (Although perhaps in the strictest sense it's not a euphemism.) -- Janet Davis

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Apparently there is an opposite of a euphemism, which is most often called a "dysphemism" but sometimes called a "diseuphemism or deeuphemism," and so I think that the anonymous poster is correct. See for instance http://www.linguistlist.org/~ask-ling/archive-most-recent/msg04202.html and http://www.linguistlist.org/~ask-ling/archive-most-recent/msg04212.html --the most discussion I've found on it; most sites merely define it and move on. Merriam-webster has it that the word dates back to 1884.

But the existence of dysphemisms leaves it to someone to determine which words are the most accurate with the least connotation, to zero the balance, so to speak, and that's something I'll not attempt.  :-D

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Actually there are two rough opposites of euphemism, "dysphemism" and "cacophemism". The latter I think is generally used more often in the sense of something deliberately offensive, while the former can be either offensive or merely humorously deprecating. And yes, there is necessarily a lot of subjectivity involved, because connotations eaily change over time. "Idiot" was once a neutral term, and "moron" a euphemism for it. As is usually the case with evolving languages, negative usages win over neutral ones, so we had to come up with "retarded". Now that too is considered rude, so we have "challenged", and so on. A similar progression occurred with "reek/stink/smell/odor/fragrance"...I'm sure 40 years from now "fragrant" will be the vilest insult.

At any rate, a good question to ask is what is the purpose of an encyclopedia article on "euphemism"? I'm not as anti-dictionary-entry as Larry, but in this case I think it is clearly more appropriate to give an overview of the use of euphemisms, examples, history, etc., which is likely to be much richer than what one could do with a dictionary entry. --LDC

I'm not sure that "gay" is a euphemism. Meanings of words change all the time, and it isn't unusual for one meaning to supplant another over time. The fact that a word usually meant one thing but not means another doesn't make it a euphemism. And even if it were once a euphemism (I'm not convinced it was), a case could be made that it isn't any more. —Eric

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"spontaneous energetic disassembly" is most definitely a euphemism. There are no uses of this term on the web other than as a euphemism for "explosion": see this Google search.

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Uh, I don't think that "The process of coining euphemisms is called taboo deformation". It seems like this is true only in the limited cases where (1) the word is taboo, i.e. offensive or scary, rather than impolite or unflattering, and (2) the original word or phrase is modified, not replaced. E.g. http://www.vroma.org/~jhaughto/etydefinitions.htm --GGano

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• Examples include the original Indo-European words for bear (*rktos), wolf (*wlkwos), and deer (originally, hart). In different Indo-European languages, each of these words have difficult etymologies because of taboo deformations--a euphemism was substituted for the original, and the form of the original word no longer occurs in the language. The Germanic word "bear" means "brown guy;" the Slavic root (*medu-ed-) means "honey eater."
  • Is there any evidence that these are examples of euphemisms, rather than slang? Likewise, "gay" seems to be more slang -- and "lesbian" doesn't seem to really be either a slang term, nor a euphemism. Qwert

"A euphemism is a word or phrase that is used in place of a more disagreeable or offensive term," and if gay and lesbian is used in place of the disagreeable and/or offensive term "homosexual" then they are euphemisms, correct?-Hyacinth 06:56, 27 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Are they less offensive? I think its certainly debatable, many people use "gay" as a perjorative which would make it far more offensive. I think "gay" is slang, not a euphemism. Qwert

A) Gay is not slang, it is the accepted, often preferred, and used term. B) Words can be many things, and all euphemisms start out as slang or jargon.

However, gay predates homosexual, so it is debatable. JDR has expressed the opinion that "same-sex" is a euphemism for homosexual, so I'll edit to that.

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Being slang and being a euphemism are orthogonal terms—neither is bound up in the other. The defining characteristic of slang is that it is informal, whereas the defining characteristic of a euphemism is that it is used in place of a disagreeable term. Certainly "kick the bucket" it both slang and euphemism for "die", but "pass away" for "die" is a euphemism without being slang, whereas "cool" for "excellent" is slang without being a euphemism.

The situation surrounding terms marginalized groups use to describe themselves, like those who have minority sexual orientations or are from minority ethnic groups, is much too complicated to be a suitable example for the concept of euphemism. Certain epithets have been reclaimed (for example queer or nigger), but whether their usage is a euphemism, a pejorative term, or just a name is dependent on many factors, not the least of which is whether the person using it is a member of the group or not. Similarly, the terms "gay", "homosexual", and "lesbian" all have different status depending on the social group. "gay and lesbian" is preferred by many, but "queer" by some, and "homosexual" is preferred by those who seek to maintain the group's marginal status by using a cold, clinical term. The politics here are too complex for the idea to serve as an instructive example of the concept of euphemism. As such, I have removed it. Nohat 06:16, 2004 Mar 17 (UTC)

What's the SAMPA for euphemism btw? /iu/fa/m^/zm/ -SV(talk) 06:49, 17 Mar 2004 (UTC)

I think that'd be /"juf@mIzm=/ or, in IPA, /ˈjufəmɪzm̩/Nohat 07:07, 2004 Mar 17 (UTC)