试论英语中委婉语及其表达

On Euphemism

如何充分掌握利用委婉的表达是个很复杂的问题,启用何种委婉的说法会因人因时因地等不同的环境或条件而有所不同。作为一种修辞手段,委婉语还不仅仅是所谓“捡好听的说”,它与语言学中关于如何判定词义褒贬不无关系。实际上没有一种委婉的说法不打上交际者个人交际能力的烙印。本文重点讲了生活中常见的几种委婉的表达,也是外语教师教学中常常忽略的问题。

As a means of rhetoric, euphemism is used for substituting a mild, indirect, or vague term for one considered harsh, blunt, or offensive. It is clear that euphemism has a direct effect on everyday communication both in one＇s family and in the whole society. However, it is rather complex or complicated for us to have a good command of how to make full use of euphemism for the circumstances and conditions are quite different from person to person, from profession to another profession, even from class to another class. As a figure of speech, euphemism is other than just saying something unpleasant in a pleasant way. It is related with semantic consideration in linguistics, and even with the same word or expression both in a good sense and in a bad sense in some time or some place. All kinds of euphemism must be characterized by the communicative people with their own interpersonal rhetoric ability. This paper is to focus on the main aspects of more common euphemism easily seen in daily life, which are often neglected by the teachers of English or other foreign languages.