Курсовая работа: Euphemisms: history, types and examples

Other common euphemisms include:

· getting smashed or hammered instead of 'drinking' or 'being drunk'

· big, fluffy, full-figured or heavy-set instead of 'fat'

· lost their lives for 'were killed'

· wellness for benefits and treatments that tend to only be used in times of sickness

· restroom for toilet room in American English (the word toilet was itself originally a euphemism)

· a love of musical theatre, light in the loafers, good fashion sense or confirmed bachelor for male homosexuality

· woman in sensible shoes for lesbian

· acting like rabbits, making love to, getting it on, cheeky time, doing it, making the beast with two backs, or sleeping with for having sex with

· sanitary landfill for garbage dump (and a temporary garbage dump is a transfer station), also often called a Civic Amenity in the UK

· ill-advised for very poor or bad

· an intestinal release of pressure for fart

· pre-owned vehicles or even "pre-loved" for used cars

· motivation for bribe

· a student being held back a grade level for having failed or flunked the grade level

· correctional facility for prison

· peer homework help or comparing answers for cheating

· the north of Ireland for Northern Ireland, which is seen by many Irish people as a term imposed by the British and therefore a profanity; however, saying the north of Ireland may be primarily a way of identifying oneself with the Irish Nationalist cause, rather than a euphemism

· the big C for cancer (in addition, some people whisper the word when they say it in public, and doctors euphemistically use technical terminology when discussing cancer in front of patients, e.g., "c.a." or "neoplasia"/"neoplastic process", "carcinoma" for "tumor"); euphemisms for cancer are used even more so in the Netherlands, because the Dutch word for cancer can be used as a curse word

· bathroom tissue, t.p., or bath tissue for toilet paper (usually used by toilet paper manufacturers)

· custodian or caretaker for janitor (Also originally a euphemism — in Latin, it means doorman. In the British Secret Service, it may still carry the ancient meaning. It does in the novels of John le Carré.)

· sanitation worker (or, sarcastically, sanitation officer or sanitation engineer), or garbologist, for "bin man" or garbage man

· economically depressed neighborhood or culturally-deprived environment for ghetto or slum

· force, police action, peace process or conflict for war

· alcohol-related, single-car crash for drunk driver

· mature or been around the block for old or elderly

· haem or heme (Americanism) for blood, often used in medical settings ("severe heme loss").

· enhanced interrogation technique for torture

· persuasion for torture