Euphemisms

Paper Summary:

Most people are taught to tell the truth when they are growing up with aphorisms like "Speak the truth and shame the devil" and fables like the little boy who cried wolf

From the Paper:

"Most people are taught to tell the truth when they are growing up with aphorisms like "Speak the truth and shame the devil" and fables like the little boy who cried wolf. We are given continual reminders of the unpleasant things that lie in store for those people who diverge from this straight-and-narrow path of truth.

And yet at the same time, we are given several sets of contradictory instructions in our formative years, including the prescription that we should not hurt other people's feelings if that be possible and that we should not swear or use dirty words. It is often in an attempt to reconcile these differing sets of instructions that people employ euphemisms.

The etymology of the word euphemism is a relatively straightforward one, coming to the modern English speaker from ..."

More papers on Euphemisms:

• Research Paper # 12908 : "Language & Reality"
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• Research Paper # 97598 : "Idiosyncrasies of the English Language"

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