Международная научно-практическая конференция «xiv международная конференция посвященная проблемам общественных и гуманитарных наук» (30. 11. 2013 г.)

Чухна А.В.

EUPHEMISMS IN THE ENGLISH MEDICAL DISCOURSE

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  according to the semantic classification:
  
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    diseases: Cancer ( big C, long illness, mitotic disease, neoplasm are used to avoid pronouncing directly the name of this disease; smear is a test for cervical cancer; sore replaces carcinoma.), tuberculosis ( consumption and white plague are used to replace tuberculosis, to be delicate means to suffer from tuberculosis and the spot has been referred to the tubercular infection, when there is a hole in the lining of the lung which appears as a spot on the X-ray plate), venereal diseases (Social disease and preventable disease are the euphemisms for venereal disease, Garmi (Hindi, = heat) is a euphemism for diseases like gonorrhea and syphilis, Ping-pong infection is the infection passed between sexual partners), AIDS ( is itself an euphemism, sickness of this generation is another reference to AIDS, five and three (5+3) and eight sounds like AIDS, contacting HIV is like stepping on a live wire, driving a Z3, having three kids and the three letters refer to the three letters in the HIV acronym) and Others (Emma Freuds, Farmer Giles, unmentionable replaces hemorrhoids, eating disorder is used instead of anorexia, falling evil for epilepsy);
    
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    death (i.e. breathe one’s last, fall asleep, at the room temperature, bloodless, didn’t make it, feeling no pain, flatlined, his hour has come, left us, lost vital signs, negative patient care outcome, wearing a toe tag etc.);
    
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    manipulations ( intervention is used to replace a surgical operation, medical jargon for another kind of invasion, when a person needs to correct a problem that means that there should be an surgery conducted);
    
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    states ( deaf, blind and lame are handicapped, challenged or inconvenienced, a lot of euphemisms are used to replace some other physical state i.e. not very well, off-colour, on the club, on the panel stands for ill)
    
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    women health ( pregnancy: confinement, child-bed, dropping, happy event; abortions: to drop a bundle, illegal operation, planned termination; menstruation: trouble, women’s problem) ;
    
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    facilities (nursing home replaces hospital, hospice is an institution for incurable or dying)
    
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    general ( claret is an euphemism for blood, throw a map, throw up your tonsis, feed the fishes, chuck up replaces vomiting, trouble is any unpleasant or unwanted experience)
    
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  according to the type of formation
  
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    circumlocution (i.e. breathe your last, close eyes)
    
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    omission (e.g. all over with)
    
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    abbreviation ( D for death, C – cancer, AIDS)
    
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    derivation ( e.g. anointed or goner meaning that the person about to die, taken or removed – already dead person, unmentionables is an euphemism for hemorrhoids, staining - bleeding )
    
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    one-for-one substitution (e.g. clunk – a corpse, cold- dead, claret – blood)
    
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    metaphorical transformation – (count the daisies, lay down your knife and fork, go on the box – be absent from work because of the illness)
    
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  according to „transparency” (the ability of communicants to decode them easily):
  
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    context dependent (e.g. home – hospital, dicky and funny meaning unwell, raspberry – lame person)
    
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    context free (exchange this life for the better, optically/vertically/visually challenged, hospice)
    
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  according to the stylistic coloring:
  
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    stylistically colored (e.g. under the daisies, off-line, come to the end of the road – to die, lady in the straw – pregnant, French renovating pills – a substance to induce abortion of healthy foetus, clunk – a corpse)
    
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    stylistically neutral (e.g. have a heart – a malfunction of the heart, human difference - a facility below the norm, criminal operation – an illegal abortion)
    
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  according to the part of speech:
  
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    nouns ( e.g. curtains – death, hatch – the birth of the child)
    
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    adjectives (e.g. cold, cool, off-line - dead, charming – in good health, anointed – about to die,
    
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    verbs ( doorstep – to abandon a baby, staining – bleeding)
    
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    nominal phrases (happy event – childbirth, little stranger – an unborn child)
    
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    verbal phrases (throw a map, throw up your tonsils – to vomit).
    

1. 
   Allan K., Burridge K. Forbidden words. Taboo and the Censoring of Language / Allan Keith, Burridge Kate.− Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
   
2. 
   Allan K., Burridge K. Euphemism and Dysphemism: language used as shield and weapon / Allan Keith, Burridge Kate.− Oxford: Oxford University Press. – 1991.
   
3. 
   Crystal D. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of The English Language / David Crystal. [2nd edition] − Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. − 2003.
   
4. 
   Eliecer F. C. The Language of Death: Euphemism and Conceptual Metaphorization in Victorian Obituaries / Fernandez Eliecer // Sky Journal of Linguistics − Vol.19. – 2006. − P. 101 − 130.
   
5. 
   Gladney G. A., Rittenberg T. L. Euphemistic Text Affects Attitudes, Behaviour / Gladney George Albert, Rittenberg Terri L.// Newspaper Research Journal. − 26 (1). – 2005. – P. 28 − 42.
   
6. 
   Goatly A. The Language of Metaphors / Goatly Andrew. − London: Routledge, 1997.
   
7. 
   Gross J. Intimations of Mortality. Fair of Speech. The uses of euphemism / John Gross. − Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985.
   
8. 
   Holder R.W. How Not to Say What You Mean: A Dictionary of Euphemisms / R.W. Holder. − Oxford University Press, 2003.