[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-493345-105":59,"doc-detail-493345-en":131},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":124,"head_meta":126,"extra_data":128,"updated_unix":130},105,"en","words-to-works-26-sexual-euphemism-s-in-the-english-language-introduction","Words to Works 26 - Sexual Euphemism s in the English Language - Introduction","","The paper examines how linguistic taboos shape everyday speech and how speakers avoid direct reference to forbidden topics through euphemisms. It defines taboo as socially forbidden naming and outlines major taboo categories using psychological motivations: fear, delicacy, and propriety, with special attention to sex-related subjects. It then introduces euphemism as mild or roundabout language used as a compensating strategy to bypass taboo words, and summarizes indirectness strategies such as metonymy, generalization, metaphor, and phonological deformation.",{"@graph":69,"@context":123},[70,84,106],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":15,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/words-to-works-26-sexual-euphemism-s-in-the-english-language-introduction/493345/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/words-to-works-26-sexual-euphemism-s-in-the-english-language-introduction/493345.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Olivia Brown","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-19","2026-10-01",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":105},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",15,{"@type":107,"mainEntity":108},"FAQPage",[109,115,119],{"name":110,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":112},"What is a linguistic taboo, according to the paper?","Question",{"text":113,"@type":114},"A linguistic taboo is defined as socially forbidden to name a referent transparently, leading to avoidance and substitution through indirect speech forms.","Answer",{"name":116,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":117},"How does the paper classify taboos?",{"text":118,"@type":114},"It divides linguistic taboos into taboos of fear, delicacy, and propriety, based on psychological motivation, and links propriety taboos to swearing, bodily functions, and sex.",{"name":120,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":121},"What are euphemisms and what strategies do they use?",{"text":122,"@type":114},"Euphemisms are mild or roundabout words used in place of coarse or offensive ones. The paper highlights indirectness strategies such as metonymy, generalization, metaphor, and phonological deformation.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":125,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":127,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":129,"site_id":62},493345,1791339710,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":132},{"doc_id":129,"user_id":133,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":134,"doc_module":4,"category_id":14,"category_name":15,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":135,"file_id":136,"file_url":137,"file_type":138,"file_size":139,"view_count":105,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":140,"language":141,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":142,"faqs":143,"seo_title":144,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":145,"read_time":146},16904993612988,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_a8503ba1806abce46bf441b54a3ca4cd","Words to Works 26  \nIvica Je đud  \nUniversity of Zagreb  \nSexual Euphemism s in the English Language  \nIntroduction  \nEvery person on Earth is a member of a particular speech community. According to Farb, we are born into “a world where the rules of grammar [of our language] and of appropriate speech in various situations already exist” (84) . However, language is used to express certain matters and categories of words as well as to avoid them. As Wardhaugh notes: “[c]ertain things are not said, not because they cannot be, but because people do not talk about them, or, if those things are talked about, they are talked about in roundabout ways”(238) . In the first case, we have instances of taboo; in the second case we are talking about the employment of euphemisms in order to avoid mentioning certain matters directly. A specific type of euphemisms will be analyzed and discussed in this paper, namely, the euphemisms from the sphere of sexual relations.  \nTaboos  \nBorrowed from Tongan, a language of Polynesia, and first introduced into English by Captain Cook, the term taboo generally signifies that “a thing is forbidden”(Ullmann 204) in a given society. Linguistically speaking, taboo signals that it is  \nWords to Works 27  \n“forbidden to name the referred designatum by a transparent designans”(Calvo 63) and, therefore, the term taboo is extended to “all those words or sets of words referring to objects, concepts or actions that a given society considers to be individually or collectively subjected to prescription” (Calvo 64) . Wardhaugh notes that tabooed subjects can vary from death, excretion, bodily functions, religious matters, politics to sex: “tabooed objects that must be avoided or used carefully can include your mother-in-law, certain game animals, and use of your left hand (the origin of sinister)” (239) . According to the psychological motivation behind them, Ullmann divided linguistic taboos into three distinct groups: the taboos of fear, the taboos of delicacy and the taboos of propriety.  \nThe taboos of fear comprise all religious referents. For instance, the Jews were not allowed to refer directly to God; they used the word master instead. The same avoidance can be seen in other contemporary languages, e. g. in English the Lord, in French Seigneur, in German der Herr, or in Croatian Gospodin. There are also numerous euphemisms for the devil, as well as for the evil spirits and other ordinary creatures, and things endowed with supernatural qualities. Names of inanimate objects can also be struck by a taboo ban, with the aforementioned use of your lefthand being one of the most famous examples: in Latin sinister, in Italian sinistro, in French gauche (originally clumsy, the wrong way), in English left (originally meaning weak, worthless) . The taboos of delicacy avoid direct reference to unpleasant subjects. These taboos include topics related to illness and death. Another class of words which are often avoided are names of criminal actions such as cheating, stealing and killing, e. g., in French stealing is traditionally paraphrased as corriger la fortune (meaning the correction of fortune) . The taboos of propriety focus on the three great spheres that are most directly affected by this form of taboo: swearing,  \nWords to Works 28  \ncertain parts and functions of the body, and the subject matter of this paper: sex. The sense of decency and propriety has been throughout the ages a rich source of taboos. A number of expressions from the sphere of sexual relations will be presented later in this paper to illustrate this tendency.  \nThe English language also has its taboos, and most people who speak English know what these are and observe the rules of their usage. There are some rebels that willingly break those rules and violate linguistic taboos on occasion for different reasons: “  to draw attention to oneself, or to show contempt, or to be aggressive or provocative, or to mock authority – or, according to Freud, o","cbCaigRCrufsJj5z","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaigRCrufsJj5z","pdf",274206,18,"English","# Introduction\n# Taboos\n## Taboo categories (fear, delicacy, propriety)\n# Euphemisms\n## Definition and strategies of indirectness","[{\"question\":\"What is a linguistic taboo, according to the paper?\",\"answer\":\"A linguistic taboo is defined as socially forbidden to name a referent transparently, leading to avoidance and substitution through indirect speech forms.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the paper classify taboos?\",\"answer\":\"It divides linguistic taboos into taboos of fear, delicacy, and propriety, based on psychological motivation, and links propriety taboos to swearing, bodily functions, and sex.\"},{\"question\":\"What are euphemisms and what strategies do they use?\",\"answer\":\"Euphemisms are mild or roundabout words used in place of coarse or offensive ones. The paper highlights indirectness strategies such as metonymy, generalization, metaphor, and phonological deformation.\"}]","Words to Works 26 - Sexual Euphemism s in the English Language - Introduction | PDF",1790880899,28]