2. Political euphemism
2.1. Introduction
Politics is a fertile area for the growth of euphemisms，which are cosmetic in expression but deceptive in nature. Euphemisms of this kind are always used consciously and deliberately. Euphemisms used in political issues are mainly seen in the internal and international aspects.
2.1.1 Internal aspect
In internal aspect, political euphemisms are used for some social problems such as poverty，unemployment, crime and racism, and the activities of the political organization and so on, which are cosmetic.
In order to cover the problems of poverty and unemployment, etc, the government continuously created euphemisms serving for his political purpose. For example, in America, “the poor” is called as “the deprived, man of modest means, the less well off”, and the poor area as “the inner city”, etc. And “lose jobs” become “between jobs”, “fire employees” become “downsizing” or “RIF (reduction in force),”lack of job security” is referred to as “job flexibility”. In Britain, the unemployed can enjoy the half-price film ticket or theatre ticket, only because they are “the less fortunate”.
When the western countries were in the beginning of 20th century, the relation between the laborers and the capitalist was very tense, and strike become a serious social problem. In order to cover the contradiction, “strike” was referred to as “industrial dispute”, “boycott classes” as “student unrest”, “and drop” as “adjustment downward”.America is a country pound of its perfect law system, however, it is also a country filled with all kinds of social crime. In order to avoid those disgraced sayings, euphemisms are frequently used. For instance, “steal” is called as “to hook, to palm, to work the hole, to walk away with”; “to robbery” is referred to as “to clip, to put the arm on, to break a jug”; “to murder” is referred to as “to cross out, to disappear, to die in a necktie, to go cool”; “punishment ”becomes “to drop into the bucket, do time, to walk the last mile”. P47 The word “nigger” which is full of racial discrimination and has a bad connotation is replaced by “Negro” and then “colored”, “black” and now “Afro-American”.
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