a. The Function of Being PoliteWith

a. The Function of Being Polite
With the development of social economy, people spontaneously pursue the language civilization to show that they are
civilized and cultivated. So when people have to refer to something unpleasant, they prefer to employ some mild,
implicit and euphemistic expressions. In such cases, the practice of euphemism shows its politeness function. Here, the
key point of politeness function is to respect others, to express something politely, so as to keep people from being hurt
and make them accept those things pleasantly. In communication with others, euphemisms can help people form a
positive communication atmosphere and establish harmonious social relationship and eventually obtain the
communication goals.
“Old” is a very sensitive word to many people in the English speaking countries, because “old” gives people an
impression that someone is useless to society. So usually, we use “senior citizens” or “superior citizens” to refer to the
old people. And “feel one‟s age” is used to mean “get old”. Besides, the word “poor” also has many euphemisms.
During the last twenty years or so, several other words have been trying to take its place, at least among educated and in
“officialese”. As some unfortunate person put it: “At first I was poor, then I became needy, later I was underprivileged.
Now I‟m disadvantaged. I still don‟t have a cent to my name, but I sure have a great vocabulary”. Among them, the
words “poor, needy, underprivileged, disadvantaged” all have the same meaning in essence, but more euphemistic than
the former one.
In education, euphemisms are likewise prolific. Some people prefer educator to teacher. Students are still students,
but comments about them need to be carefully considered. Negative expressions have given way to more positive ones.
The comment for a below average student might be that he/she is working at his/her own level, which does‟t hurt
anyone s pride. Can do better work with help doesn‟t sound bad either; it s just a less offensive way of saying a student
is slow or stupid. And if a student cheats in class, the teacher would rather say He depends on others to do his work.
b. The Function of Gloss-over
The emergence of euphemisms also has something to do with the language sensitivity. From about the time when
people began to know beauty and ugliness, to distinguish between kindness and evil, they had already got some shame
about sex, certain parts of their body, etc. And with the development of society, the range of the lexical sensitivity is
spreading. This provides an open air for the gloss -over function of Euphemisms. Even in the modern world today,
people may still feel somewhat shameful when speaking of the sexual acts. They would like to use “have physical
contract with”, “sleep with”, “go to bed with” or “make love” to express the same meaning. And “free love” is called
trial marriage; “illegitimate child” becomes love child. Besides, people rarely use the word “homosexual” instead, they
like to replace it by “gay”, “comrade”, or “queer”.
As for human body, people usually use the following words to refer to some sensitive parts, for instance, they like to
substitute abdomen for belly, posterior for buttocks, chest/bosom for breasts, limb for leg. And as for the physical
shortcomings, “physically handicapped” is usually substituted for “crippled”. If someone is deaf, people would rather
say “He is hard of hearing”; if blind, people would say “He is visually retarded”.
Additionally, in recent years, more and more euphemisms are being used in talking about social life and social affairs.
For example, euphemisms are used in referring to occupation either to conceal unpleasantness, or to improve social
status. There are fewer occupations called jobs; many have become professions. A garbage collector is described as a
sanitary engineer; a gardener is called a landscape architect; a barber is called a hair stylist or a hair ologist; and
salesmen are beautified as customers' representatives. Besides, some professions that people despise also have many
euphemisms. Prostitute is addressed as lady of the evening, business girl, harlot or streetwalker. And it is ironical that
the prostitutes themselves call their occupation as business, or even as social service.
c. The Function of Avoiding Taboo
Some English euphemisms are associated with taboo. Taboo exists in every language. Euphemisms can be used as
substitutes in order to avoid embarrassment, anxiety and public shame caused by taboo words. For example, "God" Is
replaced by "Gad", "Satan" by "the good man", and "die" by "pass away".
Taboo is one way in which a society expresses its disapproval of certain kinds of behavior believed to be harmful to
its members, either for supernatural reasons or because such behavior is held to violate a moral code. Consequently, so
far as language is concerned, certain things are not be said or certain objects can be referred to only in certain
circumstances, for example, only by certain people, or through deliberate circumlocutions, i.e. euphemistically. Of
THEORY AND PRACTICE IN LANGUAGE STUDIES 2109 © 2013 ACADEMY PUBLISHER
course, there are always those who are prepared to break the taboos in an attempt to show their own freedom from such
restrictions or to express the taboos as irrational and unjustified, as in certain movements for „free speech‟.
In recent times, more and more euphemisms are being used in taking about social life and social affairs. The name of
some professions can be very misleading; for example, landscape architect for gardener, beautician for hair dresser,
building engineer for janitor, prison officer for gardener and funeral director for undertaker. In international relations,
“dressed -up” expressions have become commonplace. Third world countries named backward countries, undeveloped
-countries, developing countries, emerging nations and less developed countries. “Taboo and euphemism affect all of us.
Each social group is different from every other in how it constrains linguistic behavior in this way, but constrains in the
some such way it certainly does.”(Ronald, 1986, p.231)
d. The Function of Disguising
Euphemism can be used to beautify things to avoid negative impact and it is not always used out of good motives. By
using euphemism, ambiguity can be produced and truth can be hidden. As a consequence, some profiteers and
politicians are likely to use euphemism to make it a language of deceit. For example, in 1983, American arms invaded
Grenada. The American President Reagan fit to be tied because news reporters used the words "invade" very much in
reporting the news. On the other hand, Reagan called it "rescue mission".
Since euphemisms often express something in an implicit and roundabout way, sometimes this may cause ambiguity
and people may feel confused about them. So, politicians, statesmen and businessmen always make full use of this
feature to mask the reality, exonerate their guilt and raise high the quality of their goods, thus making euphemisms have
the disguise function. The primary feature of euphemism here is to numb the public without telling a downright lie yet
to get an almost equally desirable response. Therefore, “industrial climate” means “dispute between employer and
employee”. And an economic crisis is another subject for euphemism. The prewar word “slump” was soon replaced by
“depression”, then by the word “recession”. Now “recession” is replaced by “downturn”. Besides, war is a fertile time
for language. Governments need euphemisms to persuade people to put up with the sufferings of war. Therefore, attack
is active defense; the aggressive action is preemptive action; surprise attacks against enemies are now termed
preemptive strikes. To retreat is to retire to prepared positions or to break off contact with enemy. To take out a city is to
blast it to destruction.

Kết quả (Việt) 1:

a. các chức năng được lịch sựVới sự phát triển kinh tế xã hội, người một cách tự nhiên theo đuổi nền văn minh ngôn ngữ để hiển thị rằng họ làvăn minh và trồng. Vì vậy khi người dân phải đề cập đến một cái gì đó khó chịu, họ thích để sử dụng một số nhẹ,tiềm ẩn và uyển khúc ngư pháp biểu hiện. Trong trường hợp này, các thực hành của uyển ngữ cho thấy chức năng lịch sự của nó. Ở đây, cácđiểm mấu chốt của Thái độ lịch sự chức năng là tôn trọng người khác, để thể hiện một cái gì đó một cách lịch sự, để giữ cho người từ bị tổn thươngvà làm cho họ chấp nhận những điều ngạc. Trong giao tiếp với những người khác, euphemisms có thể giúp người mẫu mộttích cực truyền thông khí quyển và thiết lập mối quan hệ xã hội hài hòa và cuối cùng có được nhữngmục tiêu giao tiếp."Cũ" là một từ rất nhạy cảm với nhiều người dân ở các nước nói tiếng Anh, bởi vì "cũ" cho mọi người mộtẤn tượng rằng ai đó là vô ích cho xã hội. Rất thường, chúng tôi sử dụng "già" hoặc "công dân cao cấp" để chỉ cácngười già. Và "cảm thấy one‟s tuổi" được sử dụng để có nghĩa là "nhận được cũ". Bên cạnh đó, từ "nghèo" cũng có nhiều euphemisms.Trong hai mươi năm qua, hay như vậy, một số từ khác đã cố gắng để mất vị trí của nó, ít nhất trong giáo dục và trong"officialese". Như một số người không may đặt nó: "ban đầu tôi đã nghèo, sau đó tôi đã trở thành khó khăn, sau đó tôi đã kém may mắn.Bây giờ I‟m hoàn cảnh khó khăn. Tôi vẫn còn don‟t có một xu để tên của tôi, nhưng tôi chắc chắn có một vốn từ vựng lớn ". Trong số đó, cácwords “poor, needy, underprivileged, disadvantaged” all have the same meaning in essence, but more euphemistic thanthe former one.In education, euphemisms are likewise prolific. Some people prefer educator to teacher. Students are still students,but comments about them need to be carefully considered. Negative expressions have given way to more positive ones.The comment for a below average student might be that he/she is working at his/her own level, which does‟t hurtanyone s pride. Can do better work with help doesn‟t sound bad either; it s just a less offensive way of saying a studentis slow or stupid. And if a student cheats in class, the teacher would rather say He depends on others to do his work.b. The Function of Gloss-overThe emergence of euphemisms also has something to do with the language sensitivity. From about the time whenpeople began to know beauty and ugliness, to distinguish between kindness and evil, they had already got some shameabout sex, certain parts of their body, etc. And with the development of society, the range of the lexical sensitivity isspreading. This provides an open air for the gloss -over function of Euphemisms. Even in the modern world today,people may still feel somewhat shameful when speaking of the sexual acts. They would like to use “have physicalcontract with”, “sleep with”, “go to bed with” or “make love” to express the same meaning. And “free love” is calledtrial marriage; “illegitimate child” becomes love child. Besides, people rarely use the word “homosexual” instead, theylike to replace it by “gay”, “comrade”, or “queer”.As for human body, people usually use the following words to refer to some sensitive parts, for instance, they like tosubstitute abdomen for belly, posterior for buttocks, chest/bosom for breasts, limb for leg. And as for the physicalshortcomings, “physically handicapped” is usually substituted for “crippled”. If someone is deaf, people would rathersay “He is hard of hearing”; if blind, people would say “He is visually retarded”.Additionally, in recent years, more and more euphemisms are being used in talking about social life and social affairs.For example, euphemisms are used in referring to occupation either to conceal unpleasantness, or to improve socialstatus. There are fewer occupations called jobs; many have become professions. A garbage collector is described as asanitary engineer; a gardener is called a landscape architect; a barber is called a hair stylist or a hair ologist; andsalesmen are beautified as customers' representatives. Besides, some professions that people despise also have manyeuphemisms. Prostitute is addressed as lady of the evening, business girl, harlot or streetwalker. And it is ironical thatthe prostitutes themselves call their occupation as business, or even as social service.c. các chức năng tránh điều cấm kỵMột số euphemisms tiếng Anh được liên kết với điều cấm kỵ. Điều cấm kỵ tồn tại trong mọi ngôn ngữ. Euphemisms có thể được sử dụng nhưthay thế để tránh sự bối rối, lo âu và xấu hổ công cộng do từ cấm kỵ. Ví dụ, "Thiên Chúa" làthay thế bằng "Gad", "Satan" của "người đàn ông tốt", và "chết" bởi "qua đời".Điều cấm kỵ là một trong những cách mà trong đó một xã hội thể hiện của nó không chấp thuận của một số loại hành vi cho là có hại choCác thành viên, hoặc vì lý do siêu nhiên hoặc do hành vi như vậy được tổ chức để vi phạm một mã đạo Đức. Do đó, vì vậyxa như ngôn ngữ là có liên quan, những thứ nhất định không thể nói hoặc các đối tượng nhất định có thể được giới thiệu đến chỉ trong một sốcó những hoàn cảnh, ví dụ, chỉ bởi những người nhất định, hoặc thông qua cố ý circumlocutions, tức là euphemistically. CủaLÝ THUYẾT VÀ THỰC HÀNH TRONG NGÔN NGỮ HỌC 2109 © 2013 HỌC VIỆN NHÀ XUẤT BẢNTất nhiên, luôn có những người đang chuẩn bị để phá vỡ những điều cấm kỵ trong một nỗ lực để hiển thị của họ tự do từ như vậyhạn chế hoặc thể hiện các điều cấm kỵ là chưa hợp lý và unjustified, như trong một số phong trào cho "miễn phí speech‟.Trong thời gian gần đây, càng euphemisms đang được sử dụng trong việc về đời sống xã hội và xã hội. Tên củamột số ngành nghề có thể rất gây hiểu nhầm; Ví dụ, cảnh quan kiến trúc sư cho làm vườn, kì cho dresser tóc,xây dựng các kỹ sư cho lao, nhân viên nhà tù cho người làm vườn và giám đốc tang lễ undertaker. Trong quan hệ quốc tế,“dressed -up” expressions have become commonplace. Third world countries named backward countries, undeveloped-countries, developing countries, emerging nations and less developed countries. “Taboo and euphemism affect all of us.Each social group is different from every other in how it constrains linguistic behavior in this way, but constrains in thesome such way it certainly does.”(Ronald, 1986, p.231)d. The Function of DisguisingEuphemism can be used to beautify things to avoid negative impact and it is not always used out of good motives. Byusing euphemism, ambiguity can be produced and truth can be hidden. As a consequence, some profiteers andpoliticians are likely to use euphemism to make it a language of deceit. For example, in 1983, American arms invadedGrenada. The American President Reagan fit to be tied because news reporters used the words "invade" very much inreporting the news. On the other hand, Reagan called it "rescue mission".Since euphemisms often express something in an implicit and roundabout way, sometimes this may cause ambiguityand people may feel confused about them. So, politicians, statesmen and businessmen always make full use of thisfeature to mask the reality, exonerate their guilt and raise high the quality of their goods, thus making euphemisms havethe disguise function. The primary feature of euphemism here is to numb the public without telling a downright lie yetto get an almost equally desirable response. Therefore, “industrial climate” means “dispute between employer andemployee”. And an economic crisis is another subject for euphemism. The prewar word “slump” was soon replaced by“depression”, then by the word “recession”. Now “recession” is replaced by “downturn”. Besides, war is a fertile timefor language. Governments need euphemisms to persuade people to put up with the sufferings of war. Therefore, attackis active defense; the aggressive action is preemptive action; surprise attacks against enemies are now termedpreemptive strikes. To retreat is to retire to prepared positions or to break off contact with enemy. To take out a city is toblast it to destruction.