But, what I found particularly interesting is the influence of euphemisms in the way we change language according to what we think is appropriate to use and to avoid in certain situations. Now, when you think of euphemisms you would probably expect them being used in social situations, for example when people want to avoid sounding insensitive with subjects like death, they use “passed away” instead of “died”. However, I’m here today to share with you what I found interesting when I analyzed the language in the economics section of some newspapers. I investigated the semantic features of the language used by people like politicians. More specifically, I looked at how they use euphemisms during periods of economic downturns.
This may not be the metaphor you want to use for your people. Can you think of another metaphor that conveys a similar message?”4 This kind of metaphor can easily point to the use of another metaphor without sacrificing the need to remain faithful to the biblical passage and at the same time allowing for more effective communication. Paul's image of the body in 1 Corinthians 12 is an iconic use of imagery that is familiar to most Christians. That familiarity can often become a stumbling block to communication as the recipient will often assume they already know what is going to be said. In these times it is necessary to upset the status quo and put the message into a new box that breaks down the the walls of assumption like a Trojan horse.
Death, whenever comes across most minds, is regarded as a thing of misfortune and Voldemort-like that is, not to be spoken of. At times, such refrainment can create more difficulties in the conversation for it is hard to deliver the messages in full. Due to this, the figures of speech, including euphemism, Therefore, figures of speech, one of which is euphemism, were formed and
The vocabulary had to be regulated for the smooth functioning of the community and that notion of trust, Elders cannot make mistake shall never be broken. Euphemisms are when one wants to use a milder word or phrase in place of a harsher or blunt word while referring to something unpleasant or undesirable. There are many examples of euphemisms in this novel. The word Released has been used to cover the trauma of death. For Jonas before knowing the actual meaning of Released, he believed that people who were Released were sent to Elsewhere, Elsewhere be also a euphemism used to display the life after Release.
The Dark Secret Behind Euphemisms A euphemism is defined by dictionary.com as “the substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought to be offensive, harsh, or blunt.” In the book The Giver, many euphemisms are used to assuage the harm done by actual, non used terms or ideas. In this book written by Lois Lowry, Jonas is obviously different from the other people in his community; the Elders select him to be the next Receiver of Memory. As the Receiver of Memory, he is responsible for experiencing and passing on the remembrances forbidden to society. The Giver mentors him for the job. In this community, color, choice, feelings, and other manifestations of creativity are taken away.
Otherwise, in an attempt to simplify or idealize the language they result in creating a artificial kind of communication, thereby depriving the learners of contextual indexes such as dialect, social relationship between the participants, or social function/definition of the communicative situation, which the community make or use in everyday social encounters. The pedagogic consequence which results from this is that the best way to contextualize language is simply to use real instances of language use, in which the full Potential of language can be appreciated by looking at its social
The grammar of the parent language may be preserved, but a distinctive vocabulary develops, particularly but not solely in activities and areas that are central to the subculture and that help to set it off most sharply from the established society. (Martin Montgomery, An Introduction to Language and Society. Routledge, 1986). This anti language uses words and expressions with additions and alterations in meaning aiming at creating and retaining its identity (Cage, 2003, p.25).Red (1999, p.41) defines gay language is a type of code used in the gay community for the purpose of preventing people from outside the group (herein refers to heterosexuals) making sense of it and helping link them in “their own discourse” (Cage, 2003, p.25).Red (1999,
British journalist Paul Johnson once said that ¨Euphemism is a human device to conceal the horrors of reality.¨ Euphemism is a type of language using ¨safe¨ words to substitute mild expressions that are considered harsh when talking about something unpleasant and is used very commonly in today 's society. For example, the idea of death has many euphemistic words used in the English language to replace the words ¨death¨ or ¨dying¨. When a representative from the military comes to a family and has to report to them that their loved one has ¨died¨ it 's considered a harsh and blunt statement. Instead of saying ¨Sir or Ma´am your son or daughter ¨died¨ they would use other terms such as ¨passed away¨, ¨is at peace¨, ¨departed¨, ¨went to a better place¨, ¨is not with us anymore¨ etc. In George Orwell 's novel 1984 the government 's highest class called the Inner Party uses multiple tactics and pressuring mechanisms such as using slogans/propaganda, persuasive surveillance and Newspeak to maintain social control.
Thomas (1995) said that “the most common definitions of pragmatics were meaning in use or meaning in context”. Thomas (1995) also said that “more up-to-date textbooks tend to fall into one of two camps that are those who equate pragmatics with speaker meaning and those who equate it with utterance interpretation”. In addition, pragmatics can be applied in our everyday life to interpret the meaning or messages that the people want to share with us. Sometimes, we might misunderstand what people said to us due to not having the proper knowledge, proper background same with the speaker or we do not have the pragmatic competency same as the speaker. According to Kaltenbo¨ck, Mihatsch, & Schneider (2010), pragmatic competence is the ability to communicate your intended message with all its nuances in any socio-cultural context and to interpret the message of your speaker as it was intended.
Key words: Euphemism; Culture; Intercultural communication Introduction: Euphemism is an idiomatic expression which loses its literal meanings and refers to something else in order to hide its unpleasantness. For example, “kick the bucket” is a euphemism that describes the death of a person. In addition, many organizations use the term “downsizing” for the