Sunday, July 15, 2012

Topic #6 - Euphemisms

A euphemism is a polite way of saying something.  We have many euphemisms in English.  Instead of saying a person died, we say he passed away or he passed on.  Instead of saying a girl is ugly, we say she is plain.  Instead of saying toilet room, we say restroom or bathroom.  Instead of saying jail, we say correctional facility.  Instead of garbage collector, we call him sanitary engineer.  Instead of short, a funny expression is "vertically challenged."  Similar to this, people who are not adept to using modern technology are technologically challenged.  Someone who used to be called retarded is now called developmentally delayed.  A pre-owned car is a nicer way of saying used car.  A person who is not living up to his potential or is unmotivated is the same thing as a person who is lazy.  Finally, overweight sounds better than fat.

Other countries also have creative names for toilet room.  British people call it the water closet or WC.  In the Philippines, they call it the comfort room.  Chinese people call it the room where you wash your hands.

What kinds of euphemisms do you have in your language?

No comments:

Post a Comment