Euphemisms in English Everyday Discourse Eufemismy V anglickém jazykovém prostředí

1.1.2 Classification and Formation of Euphemisms 
There are lots of different ways of euphemizing and several categories 
euphemisms can be divided into. Rawson (1981: 1) distinguishes “two general types of 
euphemisms – positive and negative.” The positive ones overestimate euphemized items 
and make them grandiose. They refer to many fancy occupational titles such as 
help
for 
servant
or 
working girl
for 
whore
. On the other hand the negative euphemisms 
eliminate everything that we do not want to deal with directly, for example 
Devil
stands 
for 
Satan 
and 
striped one
for 
tiger
. 
Another division Rawson (1981) suggests, deals with the usage of euphemisms 
either unconsciously or consciously. An example of an unconscious euphemism is a 
cemetery
which replaced the word 
graveyard
. This change was made long ago and 
hardly anyone remembers its motivation. In terms of conscious euphemisms their usage 
shows a great amount of sympathy and togetherness of the speaker. For instance a right 
selection of words when condoling upon the loss of someone, where 
loss
refers to 
death
, points out the ingenuity of that person.
According to Rawson (1981) the process of creating euphemisms includes 
borrowing words from another language, especially from Latin and French because 
foreign languages sound elegant. For example French word 
lingerie 
stands for 
women’s 
underwear
whereas Latin is used primarily in medical terms, e.g. 
urination, copulation, 
masturbation 
and they are regarded as printable.
Another category Rawson (1981) introduces deals with abbreviations since bad 
words are not so bad when abbreviated and thus people cannot be offended because a 
taboo term is not fully expressed. For instance 
Big C
stands for 
cancer 
and 
BD 
refers to 
bondage and discipline
.
Allan and Burridge (1991) add the class of semantic change which might include 
circumlocutions. It means that we use as long roundabouts as possible in order to evade 
a direct name. The reason for it is not only the fact that it takes more words to avoid an 
idea than to express it straightforwardly, but also the Anglo Saxons words which are 
rather short. An example of circumlocutions might be 
little girl’s room 
which stands for 
toilet
. Semantic change may be seen in 
do it 
which refers to 
have sex
, furthermore, there 
is a significant metaphorical transfer in 
the cavalry’s come
meaning 
menstruation
.

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