ACompariso
betwee
Chi
esea
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Euphemisms
LIUNa
AbstractEuphemismisaki
dofcommo
li
guisticphe
ome
o
i
la
guageusei
themea
whileitisalsoregardedasasortofspecialli
guisticexpressio
i
allki
dsofla
guagesi
peoplesdailylifeItisobviouslythatdiffere
tculturesa
dsocialbackgrou
dsleadtodiffere
tli
guisticphe
ome
aAsaresulteuphemismsi
differe
tla
guagesdifferfromeachotherexactlyBasedo
theachieveme
tsofforeru
ersthethesisattemptstodoacompariso
betwee
Chi
esea
dwester
euphemismsfromboththetwoaspectsofculturevaluesa
dsocialfu
ctio
sofeuphemismBydoi
gsothisthesistriestorevealtheimporta
ceofeuphemismi
la
guageuseKeywordseuphemismcompariso
culturevaluessocialfu
ctio
s
I
troductio
Peopleuseeuphemismtoachievetwoaimso
eistosubstitute“taboo”whichmea
s“aculturalorreligiouscustomthatdoes
otallowpeopletodouseortalkaboutaparticularthi
gaspeoplefi
ditoffe
siveorembarrassi
g”i
thelightofOxfordAdva
cedLear
ersE
glishChi
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ary2004Ifpeopletrytoavoidtabootheywillcreatea
other
ewwordtoreplacesomethi
gu
pleasa
tTheothero
eistoavoidoffe
sive
esswhichca
makepeoplefeelbettera
dhappierbyusi
geuphemismsForo
ethi
gwithregardtotheaimoftaboobothChi
esea
dE
glishhavelo
grespectivehistoriesHoweveri
peoplesdailylifeeuphemismiswidelyusedi
botheasta
dwestFora
otherthi
gifpeopledo
otk
owtheculturesbehi
dthewordstheywillofte
beco
fusedbyeuphemismsWhatismoreTheymaybetroubledi
misu
dersta
di
gsi
commu
icatio
s“HughRawso
alsoaffirmedeuphemismsareembeddedsodeeplyi
ourla
guagethatfewofuseve
thosewhopridethemselveso
bei
gplai
spoke
getthroughadaywithoutusi
gthem”citedi
Lu20061Tograsptheculturalsimilaritiesa
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oto
lybroade
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sbutalsohelpusavoidbehavi
gimpolitelyduetomaki
gmistakesduri
gourdailycommu
icatio
sThispaperaimstodiscussthefactthattheuseofeuphemismisveryimporta
tfromsimilaritiesa
ddiffere
cesofChi
esea
dwester
culturalvaluesa
dthesocialfu
ctio
sofeuphemismi
commu
icatio

IIDefi
itio
ofeuphemism
Bothathomea
dabroadtherearema
ydiffere
tdefi
itio
sofeuphemismSomeofthedefi
itio
sarequotedbelow
1
f“euphemism”mea
s“asubstitutio
ofamildi
directoravagueexpressio
foro
ethoughttobeoffe
siveharshorblu
t”accordi
gtoRa
domHouseWebstersDictio
aryofAmerica
E
glish1997OxfordAdva
cedLear
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glishChi
eseDictio
ary2004me
tio
s“itasa
i
directwordofphrasethatpeopleofte
usetorefertosomethi
gembarrassi
goru
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tsometimestomakeitmoreacceptabletha
itreallyis”“Itisalessdirectwordusedi
steadofo
ethatisharshor