What is an Euphemism

We will not deny it. The Spanish language is riddled with profanity and, on many occasions, derogatory. It is normal to feel on more than one occasion with the need to take a service road parallel to the highway of the everyday language in order to avoid pronouncing some words that can get out of context or annoy anyone person.

Have you ever seen yourself in that situation look for a softer word to another to avoid misunderstandings? If the answer is yes, we assume that what you were looking for was an euphemism. To delve more deeply into this topic, in a teacher we wanted to know what is a euphemism with examples to make this lesson clear to you. We started!

Etymologically, the term "euphemism" comes from ancient Greek. From this language the words εὐ (which means "well" and is pronounced "eu") and φημί (which comes to mean "speak" or "say" and would be pronounced "femí") were joined. This is how we can define the euphemism as "speaking well."

Yes, it is true that this can lead to some confusion, because "speaking well" can refer to many aspects. In this case, what defines the word in terms of speaking well is

the choice of "soft" terms instead of more hurtful or rude ones. Those terms more innocuous and inoffensive to the ear of the receiver and its sensitivity are what we know as euphemisms.

Euphemisms are often used in the formal language to give a more serious and professional meaning to the conversation. Unlike the dysphemisms that are usually used in the informal registration.

Before getting into the subject, and to learn more about what euphemisms are and how they work, we have to know the meaning of other terms that are accompanied by these escape routes linguistics. This is how, briefly, we must mention dysphemisms and, more especially, taboos.

What is a tabu

Have you ever played that game where you have to get your teammates to guess a word without being able to say a list of words related to the character, place, or whatever I touched? Well, the terms that we find in that list would be, within the game, taboo words.

Words taboo, therefore, they are words that we usually avoid in our language (in many occasions depending on the context and situation in which we are communicating), since they can be very colloquial, rude or hurtful.

Moreover, not only do we include in these types of words some terms that are socially recognized as bad words, but it may be the case that a common and normal word can become taboo due to any situation that involves the participants in the conversation, whether it may bring to mind a trauma, a bad experience or a feeling unpleasant. In these cases, consciously or unconsciously, deliberately or not, the participants agree to avoid a series of specific terms and avoid discomfort.

What are the disphemisms

The dysphemisms are exactly the opposite of euphemisms. They are, therefore, bad words searched in the mental language bank of the sender on purpose in order to show anger, hurt the receiver or any other effect. Eye! Let's not confuse dysphemisms with taboo words, since the former is a more foul word than a common one, while taboo is the hurtful or rude term that we wish to avoid by using a euphemism.

As we can see, both dysphemisms and euphemisms are closely linked to euphemisms. In fact, there are no euphemisms without taboo words, since to search for an innocuous word there must be a more offensive synonym or vice versa.

In the Spanish language there are hundreds of terms considered taboo. On many occasions, many of these words should be avoided due to their incorrectness in relation to the context in which they are avoided, while in other more colloquial contexts they are totally valid. Next, we will see a few examples of euphemisms and taboos:

1. Juan doesn't stop going to the bar every day and comes home drunk. / Juan doesn't stop going to the bar every day and comes home drunk - (In this case, drunk it would be taboo if we substitute it for drunk, which would be the euphemism for him).
2. He really likes drinking uncontrollably. (On many occasions, the euphemism can appear locutively, that is, not with a single word. To exemplify this we have here another taboo related to the subject of alcohol as drinking without control / without limits / without stopping etc.). // He really likes tipple. (A widely used euphemism in these cases).
3. The girl told her grandfather that she was a old. (This word, depending on the context in which they are found and to whom it is addressed, could have pejorative connotations). // The girl told her grandfather that was older. (Be older would be one of the possible euphemisms).
4. The child pissed all over the house. (Like many of these taboos, piss it can be out of context depending on the situation, although it can be common in conversational conversations. And is that the eschatological issue is full of euphemisms and taboos). // The child urinated all over the house. (To pee would be the euphemism for piss).
5. I have hurt myself in the ass. (Ass may sound conversational depending on the situation). // I have hurt myself in the rear. (Euphemism for ass).