All languages employ euphemisms (alternative expressions used to make something sound 'better', or 'more acceptable'). Across the variants of English, some euphemisms are similar. But often those things which have been euphemized, and in turn how they have been euphemized, are culture-specific.

Our focus in US-1 is how euphemisms may be encountered in American English.

'Euphemism' vs 'Dysphemism'

In Keith Allan and Kate Burridge's 1991 book Euphemism and Dysphemism: Language Used as Shield and Weapon (Oxford UP), "euphemisms" are defined as "... alternatives to a dispreferred expression, in order to avoid possible loss of face: either one's own face or, through giving offence, that of the audience, or of some third party."

Euphemisms are the opposite of "dysphemisms" (alternative expressions used to make something sound worse). As Allan and Burridge explain, dysphemisms arise through the same processes as euphemisms; they are in a sense "euphemisms" themselves. Dysphemisms often reflect a process called "pejorization," in which a neutral or even euphemistic word for a "bad" thing may eventually come to be seen as a "bad" word itself, which then needs to be replaced with another euphemism (e.g. the historic progression from "nigger" [the "N-word"] to "colored" to "black" and "African-American," and then "people of color" [which is quite different from "colored people"]).

Examples of euphemisms cited previously in US-1 include:

• "sauerkraut" to "liberty cabbage" (historical, political conformity)
• "rapeseed" oil to "canola" oil (present, 'political correctness')
• "poor" to "needy", then "deprived", then "underprivileged" or "disadvantaged", then "economically challenged" . . . now 'members of a differentiated income group'" — cf. 'Lost in Translation'
  [compare with 'food-insecure' (see also MedicineNet.com entry)]

Examples of dysphemisms include:

• "a rebel" to "a terrorist" (cf. "freedom fighter")
• "Mexican immigrant workers" to "aliens," "wetbacks," etc. (cf. "guest workers")
• "homosexual" to "fairy," "fruitcake," "fag" (U.S.), etc. (cf. "gay"?)

NB: Both euphemisms and dysphemisms are highly changeable, particularly as 'relationships' shift in consequence of current events (cf. the relatively short-lived 'freedom fries' of 2003). One must keep a close eye on current news and cultural reporting for insights as to what phenomena are currently undergoing euphemization/dysphemization, how this is happening, and when/if their new connotations start disappearing from use.

The presumption of both euphemisms and dysphemisms is that there is also a 'neutral' term, cf.
(neutral -> dysphemism -> euphemism)

• "stubborn" vs "pigheaded" vs "firm in his/her views"
• "penis" vs "prick" vs "genitals"
  (cf. Yiddish 'schlong', juvenile 'willie', Southern 'pecker', etc.)

The "neutral term" may not be universally agreed. Discussion over politically-charged issues will involve a confusing variety of highly marked (loaded) terms, used by each side against the views of the others, in attempts to manipulate opinion (cf. "pro life" vs "anti-abortion", etc.)

Common Reasons Why Euphemisms are Used

1. To make difficult or emotional situations more tolerable:
   ("the loved one" vs "body," "cadaver," "corpse," etc.)
2. To deceive (conceal the truth); ("culturally-deprived area" vs "slum":
   "air support missions" vs "aerial bombardment")
3. To lend "status": ("sanitary engineer" vs "janitor, garbageman";
   "senior citizen" vs "retiree")
4. To lend "social acceptability": ("motion discomfort bag" vs "vomit sack";
   "recycling center" or "waste management center" vs "dump")
5. Advertising; appeals to vanity: ("husky" or "pretty-plus" sizes vs "overly large" [plump, fat] sizes), etc.
6. Political 'Propaganda': "the evil empire", "axis of evil", etc.
   (language intended to 'demonize' a perceived opponent)
7. Inadvertent "technicalization" of language by engineers, sociologists, administrators, etc.
   (cf. "receiving waters" or "effluent" [of a sewage treatment plant])
8. Or, avoidance (cf. Finnish kontio, otso, vs. karhu), political correctness, etc.

Euphemisms 'follow the times'; they are often (historically) time-specific: (technical/scientific, executive/management, caregiver, creative ...) This 'time-specificity' is often important when translating.

• gravedigger, undertaker, mortician, funeral director (Deathcare Industry), grief counselor
• graveyard, church yard, cemetery, memorial park
• hairdresser, beauty parlor, beauty shop/shoppe/salon, beautician, hairstylist...

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Colloquial Euphemisms: Problematics of Understanding and Translation

Euphemisms are often bound in colloquial expressions which may be familiar to native speakers of a particular culture, but are not easily understandable by those outside the culture. Even if understood, they may be difficult to translate, either in an appropriate equivalent register or at all. Consider the following examples:

Death and Dying — note the differing associations

• to pass away, pass on, go to meet their maker, go to sleep, go to the other side, go to rest, go to their final reward, go West, croak, kick the bucket, buy the farm, buy it
• to lose them (I recently lost my favorite aunt...)
• (pets) — put to sleep, put away, put down
• (gangsters) — deep-six, rub out, erase, waste, sleeping with the fish

Military Terminology

• A nuclear explosion "may cause" heavy casualties among your leaders
  (Use of auxiliary "may" to put distance...)
• The unit took "heavy casualties" — vs killed, dead, burned, dismembered
• RIF (reduction in force); a "force reduction" estimate
• fire for effect, engage the enemy, soften up their defenses
  Systematic euphemisms comprise a type of jargon ....

Traditional, 'Rural-register' Male Urination Euphemisms (Good old "Number One")

• I have to go feed the goldfish.
• I have to go look at the crops.
• I have to go see a man about a dog.
• I have to pay a visit to the old soldiers' home.
• I have to retreat to the holy of holies.
• I have to go sharpen the skates.
• I have to go visit the chamber of commerce.

Vomiting Euphemisms — note the 'age' specificity

• Praying to the porcelain god...
• Talking with Ralph and Earl...
• Barfing, upchucking, blowing lunch, technicolor lunch — pavement pizza (US or GB?) . . .
  (cf. register and propriety: can "barfing", etc., be used in serious or 'adult' situations?)

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From Euphemism to Jargon, and Their Intermixture

Euphemism is often connected with 'jargon' — the specialized or technical language of a trade, profession, group or 'community' (cf. library jargon, weather jargon and the jargon of caregiving and eldercare [cf. also FAST Glossary Center]).

Military euphemisms, in other words, comprise a jargon — a common system of 'professional reference'; military jargon may also be used euphemistically. Traditional rural euphemisms comprise a type of jargon for those who are part of the particular 'rural community' (presumably specific to rural 'regionality'). The vomiting euphemisms above may be considered highly age-specific; they represent younger people (students especially?) much more than they would older people.

Jargon may be 'educated' and largely standardized between different English variants, or a highly colloquial 'street variety' which changes from one neighborhood to another. Jargons may also be largely isolated to a certain profession, or certain terms or concepts may enter 'mainstream' usage. With the latter, the changeover from isolation to mainstream would usually be time-datable, as with the computer and printing examples below, and may be associated with particular genders, races, or ethnic groups.