0.8例子委婉语

在英语教学中应重视委婉语的学习与运用

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. 汉语的称谓中委婉语众多。作为礼仪之邦，汉民族非常重视言语交往过程中的礼尚往来，在尊重对方的前提下还要力求雅致，因此产生了大量的同义称谓语。一般说来，直称则比较通俗，婉称则显得文雅。例如，称妻子的父亲为“岳丈”，比“丈人”要文雅些，但比起“泰山”、“冰翁”来，后者则更加典雅

After three days in Japan, the spinal column becomes extraordinarily flexible.

lesson 2 Hiroshima-- the Liveliest City in Japan 高级英语1

七).幽默性

委婉语的使用可以使人类的语言妙趣横生、诙谐幽默，把残酷的事实寓于幽默中。委婉语中这类的用法非常之多。例如：“battle of the bulge”是二次世界大战后出现的一种幽默说法，而现在用于描绘为保持体形而进行的反肥持久战。把女士们为了苗条而进行减肥的行为夸张到如同打仗，幽默的说明众减肥女士的决心和毅力。又如：在东西方家庭中夫妻二人的关系是平等的，就如朋友一样，不分层次，遇事商量，共同决定，但也有主从式（也称主仆式），即以一方为主，有的妻子比较强硬，丈夫软弱，这样丈夫常被称为“妻管严”（戏称“气管炎”谐音）。英语中却形象的把这样的丈夫称作 “hen-pecked husband”（被母鸡啄的丈夫），幽默有加。

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).

有关“性”的委婉语往往带有幽默的色彩。在好莱坞喜

剧电影《四个婚礼和一个葬礼》中，男女主人公彼此之间有

好感，但是迫于对对方不够了解，只能试探性地用“skunk

around”来暗示想和对方发生亲密关系

The euphemism for unemployment has many expressions. Most of them are humorous, such as “between jobs”, “between shows”, “to be developing a new project”, “to receive a Mexican raise/ an Irish promotion” (to raise a promotion without raising the salary), “to be self-employed”.

(三)幽默功能

诙谐的委婉语能帮助人们面对现实，事发当时能够轻松

应付。如：用“push up daisies”取代“be buffed”可以减轻人们

对死亡的恐惧；把“tO be sent into prison”(坐牢)说成。live at

government’s expense”，显然增加了调侃色彩。还比如，在本

世纪以来，英国人在吃饱以后谢绝主人的殷勤劝食时常这么

说：“I’m willing，but Mary isn’t”。(我倒乐意，但肚子不行

了。)这里把“胃”人格化为“Mary”，不仅运用辞格(托物拟

人)的手法，而且别致幽默，少了一点尴尬和见外，多了些许

熟识和感情。

（四）幽默功能。委婉语的使用可以使人类的语言妙趣横生、诙谐幽默，把残酷的事实寓于幽默中。委婉语中这类用法非常之多。

例如，在两次海湾战争中，美国的主要盟友英国可谓倒霉透顶，飞

机、装甲车屡屡被美军击中，先后“壮志未酬身先死”的有好几十

名战士。这种被误伤的称为“friendly fire”，“accidental delivery of

ordnance”，令人忍俊不禁，只是不知道这些已到极乐世界的英国

士兵作何感想。

精读4

euphemism 委婉语

eg: The beloved president was no more and the people perpetuated the memory of him by erecting a momument.

Language_Appreciation大学英语精读3unit9textA

Euphemism: an indirect word or phrase that people often use to refer to sth embarrassing or unpleasant, sometimes to make it seem more acceptable than it really is.(委婉语)

Eg: “Pass away” is a euphemism for “die”.

．1委婉语符合策略准则

日常生活中，为了能顺利的达到交际的目的，会话者往往需要策略的使用语言，策略的使用语言也就意味着礼貌的使用语言．自然规律的“生老病死”。除了“生”是人们向往的以外，其它的都是人类的大敌，人们不愿意或害怕这些事情的发生，但当这些事情不可避免的发生时人们就会用一种间接的、含蓄的方式来表达．有了这种需要英语中就出现了像用“undertheweather”来替代sick，“properpoorly”来替代verysick等委婉语来避讳令人不愉快的词语，谈论不宜谈论的话题，其最终的目的是尽量不损及他人因而遵循了策略准则．请

看下面选自(大学英语精读第四册《午餐》)中的例子：

(1)“Inevereatanythingforluncheon”

(2)“Inevereatmorethan onething”

(3)“A littlefish”

(4)“A littlecaviare”

(5)“Justanice—cream andcoffee”

例(1)～(5)中女士巧妙的使用“never”“little just”

否定词或表示微量的不定代词来说明她吃的只是一点点不会花这位年轻作家太多的钱，这些话表面上遵循了策略准则所表达的“使他人受损最小，受惠最大”但真正的目的则是为下文进一步蚕食年轻作家的钱而做准备．

4.2 In the field of education

Teachers have to make comments on students. When they want to point out shortcomings or bad behavior of students, they often use roundabout ways in order not to hurt students and their parents. The following are some mostly used euphemisms in this field and their real meanings.

“(36) The student is obtuse. ---The student is a bit slow for his age. The students seems to be mentally retarded.

(37) He has failed (flunked) a major course. ---I’m sorry to find him an underachiever for a major subject.

(38) The student is lazy. --- The student needs to raise his ambition a bit. I’m afraid the student has to exert himself in his study. He is sure to go far if he can use his resources fully. He’ll go somewhere if he is highly motivated.

(39) The student is noisy. ---He needs to develop quieter habits of communication.

(40) The student is a bully. --- He needs help in learning to use is leadership qualities democratically

(41) He lies. ---He has difficulty in distinguishing between imaginary and factual information.

(42) The student cheats. ---He needs help in learning to respect the property right of others.

(43) The student must mend his way. –He needs to be brought back into the mainstream.”*19+

In other words, euphemisms are to minimize impolite expressions and maximize polite expressions. For instance, when a teacher comments on a student’s moral conducts and school work in front of the student or his or her parent, he or she should report the fact on one hand, and on the other hand should take into consideration the student’s psychological endurance and the parent’s face. So the euphemistic way to express might be “The student is a bit slow for his or her age” instead of “The student is stupid”. *15+