@Bilijana: the role of euphemisms --- For a long time, I thought that euphemisms were better ways to express vulgar or dirty words, or, indeed, at the upper level, to see bad things in a more acceptable light.

Now, due to this fascinating course, I dusted another old book from my shelves: "Kind words. A Thesaurus of euphemisms", by Judith S. Newman & Carole G. Silver, Avon Books 1991.

They define the euphemism on the cover as

"the use of a word or phrase that is considered less distasteful or less offensive than another". That covers more or less my personal definition.

However, the preface of the book speaks about a more complex world of kind words. The texts mention five general semantic processes by means of which euphemisms are created: borrowing words from other languages, widening, semantic shifts, metaphorical transfer, and phonetic distortion. Under thematic distortion techniques only I found abbreviation, apocopation initialing, back forming, reduplication, blending, diminutive. Elevation and degradation as a pair of opposite terms are also mentioned.

I learned that “snafu” is a euphemism. If they say so!

Speaking is not as simple as one could think!

Source author: Petru Dumitriu PetruD@diplomacy.edu