January 22, 2003

Euphemism and dysphemism

(Greek eu- 'good' / dus- 'bad' + phem- 'speak')

These terms give us ways of talking about the evaluative content of language: that part which doesn't describe a thing in the world, but rather expresses the speaker's attitude towards it.

• Euphemism: "making something sound better"
• Dysphemism: "making something sound worse"

Allan & Burridge: "A euphemism is used as an alternative to a dispreferred expression, in order to avoid possible loss of face: either one's own face or, through giving offence, that of the audience, or of some third party."

Note: Allan is British-Australian, Burridge is Australian, so some of their examples may be unfamiliar.

Dispreferred expressions:

• Taboo concepts: "bodily effluvia, reproductive processes, and the associated body-parts", also often religious terms used as exclamations ("god", "hell" etc.)
• Contextually awkward concepts: "bribes, graft, and expenses-paid vacations" vs. "honoraria, campaign contributions and per-diem travel reimbursements".

There are two kinds of "X-phemisms" (euphemisms and dysphemisms):

• Conventional X-phemisms: words whose sole purpose is to make reference to a taboo topic in a polite or impolite way: "shit" vs. "defecate", "prick" vs. "penis" etc. This category has more to do with politeness and social norms than the speaker's actual feelings. Conventional dysphemisms may have a positive social value in expressing casualness, informality, solidarity etc.
• General X-phemisms: ways of describing a situation, event or thing which convey an attitude towards it: "terrorist" vs. "freedom fighter", "henchman" vs. "associate" etc.

Conventional Euphemism

Sources of euphemistic expressions:

Phonological (sound):

• Remodellings: part of the word is replaced ("shoot", "darn", "heck" etc.)
• Clippings and abbreviations: part of the word is removed ("jeeze", "bra",
  "SOB", "pee").

Semantic (meaning):

• Metaphor:"The cavalry's come" (Redcoats, menstruation), "pass on".
• Metonymy: an associated concept stands in for the one being referred to. "Ladies room", "feminine moisture", "go to bed with", "do it".
• Circumlocution: a roundabout way of talking (often included with metaphor/metonymy). "Terminological inaccuracy" for "lie", "little girls' room" for "toilet".
• Hyperbole: overstatement, exaggeration. "Home" for "house", "flight to glory" for "death".
• Understatement: "Sleep" for "die", "anatomically correct" (dolls), "this guy I'm seeing".

Conventional Dysphemism

Dysphemisms can arise through the same processes as euphemisms, but they are less likely to involve "indirectness": metaphor/metonymy and circumlocution. They also often arise through a process called pejorization: a neutral or even euphemistic word for a "bad" thing comes to be seen as a "bad" word (which then needs to be replaced with another euphemism).

• toilet - bathroom - restroom - powder room

This process can be very rapid: witness the change in "PC-ness" in terms for ethnic and other groups.

• Indian - Native American
• Negro - Colored (person) - Black - African-American
• Jew - Jewish person
• Cripple - Handicapped person - Disabled person - "Differently abled"
• (Mentally) retarded - developmentally disabled / mentally handicapped -

In each case a formerly neutral term becomes dysphemistic and has to be replaced.

Another process involving dysphemism is the generalization of a dysphemistic term originally associated with a disfavored group to a more general negative meaning (not even necessarily referring to a person):

• That TV show is so gay / lame / retarded

Cross-register synonymy

Register: a style or way of speaking adopted by a group. Registers can be defined in terms of

• formality ("formal" or "polite" vs. "informal" or "intimate" language)
• profession (linguists, academics, mountain climbers)
• channel (postcard, CB radio talk, e-mail, chatspeak)
• or anything else that brings people into a community

The definitions of "euphemism" and "dysphemism" presuppose that there are three words for a thing in different registers: a polite word, a neutral word, and an impolite word. This accounts for sets like:

CGO, Anarchy Online review:

The rebels consider themselves freedom fighters, while Omni-Tek looks upon them as nothing more than terrorists.

Some problems with the theory of cross-register synonymy:

1. these sets of terms aren't quite synonymous: especially, some say more or less than their counterparts.
   
   
2. how a word or expression is evaluated may depend on the setting. For instance, "menstruate" is neutral in an academic context but euphemistic in a casual context; "piss" might be neutral in a casual context but rude in a polite context; "dickhead" is friendly for Australians but rude for Americans. Evaluation of terms might be different for men and women, different age groups, or other subcultural categories.
   
   
3. some items don't have corresponding terms in each column. For instance, "nerd" is clearly dysphemistic; is there a neutral or a euphemistic synonym?
   
   
4. some items have characteristics of both euphemisms and dysphemisms. For instance, expressions like "beat the meat" or "drain the snake" sound euphemistic (they are metaphorical and verbose) but are not necessarily more polite than their single-word counterparts ("masturbate", "urinate/piss"). These might be classified as "euphemistic dysphemisms".