浅谈英语委婉语及其社会影响(11)

3.4. The countries’ names as euphemism
    In English, there is another special euphemistic expression. That is to use other countries’ names instead of some harsher or more offensive words. The appearance of these euphemisms is mostly because of the historic and cultural reasons. For instance, because French had ruled Britain, British people like to make fun of the French. They called “syphilis” “the French disease”. “French letter” is a euphemism for “condom”; “abortive pill” is called “French lunar pill”; “pornographic novels/prints” is called “French novels (prints)”. It seems that the French does all the bad things. In 17th century, the war between Britain and Dutch also led to a lot of anti-Dutch words, including euphemisms. “Prostitute” is called “Dutch widow”; “commit suicide” is called “Dutch act/cure”; “Dutch courage” is an “artificial courage”; “Dutch cheer” is a euphemism for “liquor”. It was said that the Dutch often drank some liquor to build up their courage. Besides French and Dutch, Britain also makes fun of other countries. “Condom” has other euphemistic expressions in terms of country’s name, such as Spanish letter, American letter, and Italian letter. “Abortive pill” is also called “Portuguese female pill”; “Russian roulette” is a euphemism for “to intend to commit suicide”; “Mexican raise. Irish promotion” means “to be dismissed”; “Egyptian physical training” means “to sleep at daytime”; “Chinese” is also included in this usage, and it refers to a kind of “heroin”. “Chinese white” is a euphemism for “spirited heroin”; “Chinese red” also refers to “heroin”. In a word, the British and the American relate a lot of offensive things with other countries’ names. That is why “exotic” has the meaning of “erotic”. “Exotic club” became the “striptease night club”; “exotic dancer” became the “go-go dancer”. Besides English, other western countries also have such euphemistic phenomena. In fact, it is Linguistic Chauvinism.
 
4. Conclusion
Euphemism appears with false appearance, and exerts a subtle influence on exposing the truth. That is to use the neutral or pleasant words to express some awkward or offensive contents. As to the English learners, we should not only pay attention to its application on appropriate occasions, but to its influences. Its active functions can coordinate the interpersonal relationships, release the contradictions and avoid the conflicts. The negative functions are to confound right and wrong, beautify the shameful behaviors and conceal the essence. Language itself has not the class character, but different people, political parties and countries can consider it a tool to serve for them. That is why someone named euphemisms as “comfortable words” or “cosmetic words”. In daily life, we should pay attention to the influences that the active and negative functions of euphemisms bring us, and keep the negative functions from corrupting our thoughts.

Bibliography

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