Classification of euphemisms

Many euphemisms fall into one or more of these categories:

• Terms of foreign and/or technical origin (derrière, copulation, perspire, urinate, security breach, mierda de toro, prophylactic, feces occur, sheisst)
• Abbreviations (GD for goddamn, SOB for son of a bitch, BS for bullshit, TS for tough shit, SOL for shit out of luck or PDQ for pretty damn(ed) quick, BFD for big fucking deal, STFU or STHU for shut the fuck/hell up, RTFM for read the fucking manual)
• Abbreviations using a spelling alphabet, especially in military contexts (Charlie Foxtrot for "Cluster fuck", Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Oscar for "What the fuck, over?", Bravo Sierra for "bullshit" — See Military slang)
• Plays on abbreviations (H-e-double hockey sticks for "hell", "a-double snakes" or "a-double-dollar-signs" for "ass", Sugar Honey Iced Tea for "shit", bee with an itch or witch with a capital B for "bitch", catch (or see) you next Tuesday (or Thursday) for "cunt")
• Use in mostly clinical settings (PITA for "pain in the ass" patient)
• Abbreviations for phrases that are not otherwise common (PEBKAC for "Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair", ID Ten T Error or ID-10T Error for "Idiot", TOBAS for "Take Out Back And Shoot")
• Abstractions and ambiguities (it for excrement, the situation for pregnancy, going to the other side for death, do it or come together in reference a sexual act, tired and emotional for drunkenness.)
• Indirections (behind, unmentionables, privates, live together, go to the bathroom, sleep together, sub-navel activities)
• Mispronunciation (goldarnit, dadgummit, efing c (fucking cunt), freakin, be-atch, shoot — See minced oath)
• Litotes or reserved understatement (not exactly thin for "fat", not completely truthful for "lied", not unlike cheating for "an instance of cheating")
• Changing nouns to modifiers (makes her look slutty for "is a slut", right-wing element for "Right Wing")
• slang, eg. pot for marijuana, laid for sex and so on

There are three antonyms of euphemism: dysphemism, cacophemism, and power word. The first can be either offensive or merely humorously deprecating with the second one generally used more often in the sense of something deliberately offensive. The last is used mainly in arguments to make a point seem more correct.

Military organizations kill people, sometimes deliberately and sometimes by mistake; in doublespeak, the first may be called neutralizing the target and the second collateral damage. Violent destruction of non-state enemies may be referred to as pacification. Two common terms when a soldier is accidentally killed (buys the farm) by their own side are friendly fire or blue on blue (BOBbing) — "buy the farm" has its own interesting history.

В этой связи хочу представить вашему вниманию статью из журнала The Times о том, как язык наравне с солдатами, просто гибнет на войне.

«At times like these, language suffers collateral damage from clusters of euphemisms»

Philip Howard

Language also is a victim of war. It suffers collateral damage. Both “casualty” (any chance occurrence) and “collateral damage” are modern euphemisms. War is a rearranger of language as well as of cities and bodies. That “rearrange” is a euphemism. It is unsurprising that an event as wild with “shock and awe” should create euphemisms. We try to create a linguistic Bath spa, where evil is dispelled by a dip in the waters of euphemism. Jargon clouds the truth and sedates the imagination. Its value is notorious in totalitarian countries, where the dictator tries to make murder and aggression respectable by calling them “liquidation” and “liberation”.

On the one hand, in the sandstorm of war, the poor bloody infantry (and pilots) need unmistakable orders to direct them precisely on to their correct targets. This is now done more accurately by computers and other high-tech kit than by subalterns directing their men’s attention to bushy-top trees and churches with spires (not many in the desert), or galloping dispatch riders sending the Light Brigade to ride down the Valley of Death. On the other hand, governments need euphemism and sinew-stiffening spin to persuade their people to put up with the waste of war.

The first shot of this war was fired at “a target of opportunity”, believed by the CIA to be President Saddam Hussein and his sons in a bunker. This new jargon stands an old euphemism on its head. A target of opportunity originally meant random bombing. It was the common instruction to bomber crews in the Second World War who might fail to reach their assigned targets, but had to jettison their loads in order to get home and land with safety. For example, Len Deighton, Goodbye Mickey Mouse: “They bombed ‘targets of opportunity’... shutting your eyes, toggling the bombload, gaining height, and getting the hell out.” You dropped your bombs at the first opportunity, irrespective of where they landed. The phrase’s new meaning is directly to target a tantalising opportunity that has arisen unexpectedly. Go get Saddam and his sons skulking in the southern suburbs of Baghdad. “Decapitate” the regime.

Nicknames for deadly weapons and WMDs (weapons of mass destruction) make them sound less terrible. Cruise, scud, Tiny Tim, Honest John, Bloodhound, Hound-dog, Davy Crockett, Exocet (French for flying-fish). In the modern wars of words, explicit names can be used to terrify: bunker-buster, microwave bomb, Tomahawk cruise missile. Or to make sinister acronyms: Moab (massive ordnance air blast bomb). “Moab is my washpot: over Edom will I cast out my scud.” There is a taboo on naming nuclear weapons rather than high explosives. Nancy Mitford: “The French say they will soon have a Bomb.” The euphemisms for nuclear weapons are the “ultimate deterrent”, or, as the French put it, “l’agent de dissuasion”.

Londoners euphemised the German flying bombs by ridiculing them as Doodlebugs. Panorama, on BBC television, revived the old euphemism by nicknaming the cruise missile as “the Doomsday Doodlebug”. Such a weapon, it was stated, has ten times the power the power of devastation as that of the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima. It can travel thousands of miles with remarkable accuracy. And it can be mass-produced. An American contributor, asked what effect such a weapon would have if dropped on London, won the rhubarb garland for euphemism: “It would ruin someone’s day.”

“Traction” is the euphemism for canvassing for votes at the UN, among the U6 (undecided six) or the P5 (permanent five) members of the Security Council. An agent can be a taboo subject. Chemical warfare agent is a noxious poison. Surgical strikes can be far from precise. To take out a city is to blast it to destruction. To retreat is “to retire to prepared positions”.

Euphemism is as old as war. Homer’s dying heroes bite the dust. The leader of the Britons against the task force of invading Romans said: “They create a desert and call it peace.” Euphemism, from the Greek, means “speaking politely”. Examples are the Euxine, “friendly to voyagers” (ie, dangerous), and the Eumenides, “the kindly ones”, a name which might please those grim spirits, imagined as winged-like bats and with snaky hair, and even pacify them. We create euphemisms to substitute a descriptive adjective for the name of something too alarming to be mentioned. Our ancestors were so frightened that they refused to utter the real name of the bear, and called him “the brown one” — German Bär and English bear.

“Punch ’n’ jab” is the latest jargon of the war of words. It behoves us to listen carefully to the cluster bombs of language that explode around us. Behove is a very rare beast. Some say that it is extinct.

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The original meaning of the adjective profane (Latin: "in front of", "outside the temple") referred to items not belonging to the church, e.g. "The fort is the oldest profane building in the town, but the local monastery is older, and is the oldest sacred building," or "besides designing churches, he also designed many profane buildings".

As a result, "profane" and "profanity" has therefore come to describe a word, expression, gesture, or other social behavior which is socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude and vulgar or desecrating or showing disrespect.

Other words commonly used to describe profane language or its use include: cuss, curse, derogatory language, swearing, expletive, oath, bad word, dirty word, strong language, irreverent language, obscene language, choice words, and blasphemous language. In many cultures it is less profane for an adult to curse than it is for a child, who may be reprimanded for cursing.

Types of swearing

Steven Pinker's book The Stuff of Thought breaks profanity down into five categories:

• Dysphemistic swearing - Exact opposite of euphemism. Forces listener to think about negative or provocative matter. Using the wrong euphemism has a dysphemistic effect. (Example: He fucks her!)
• Abusive swearing - for abuse or intimidation or insulting of others (Example: You mother fuck ing son of a bitch! Fuck you asshole)
• Idiomatic swearing - swearing without really referring to the matter.. just using the words to arouse interest, to show off, and express to peers that the setting is informal. (Example: Fuck, man.)
• Emphatic swearing - to emphasize something with swearing. (Example: It was so fuck ing big!)
• Cathartic swearing - when something bad happens like coffee spilling, people curse. One evolutionary theory asserts it is meant to tell the audience that you're undergoing a negative emotion. (Example: Aww, fuck!, Damn this coffee)

According to Pinker, the content of profane language can also be broken into five categories of negative emotion:

• The Supernatural - Evokes emotions of awe & fear. (Examples: damn, hell, Christ)
• Bodily effluvia & organs - Evokes disgust, since effluvia are major disease vectors. (Examples: shit, piss, asshole)
• Disease, Death, & Infirmity - Evokes dread, fear of death or disability. These are words which are normally avoided or treated euphemistically. (Examples: A pox on you!, A plague on both your houses!)
• Sexuality - Evokes images of revulsion at depravity. Profanity of a sexual nature conjures images of illegitimate or exploitive sexuality, jealousy, etc. (Examples: fuck, cunt, prick)
• Disfavoured people or groups - Evokes hatred and contempt. Such groups include infidels, the disabled, enemies, or subordinated groups. (Examples:, gimp, fatso, fag, kiner, kike, kafkar, nigger, cracker, coon, paki, raghead, niglet, chink, terrorist, golly, wog, gollywog)