Euphemisms may be formed in a number of ways. Periphrasis or circumlocution is one of the most common — to “speak around” a given word, implying it without saying it. Over time, circumlocutions become recognized as established euphemisms for particular words or ideas. To alter the pronunciation or spelling of a taboo word (such as a swear word) to form a euphemism is known as taboo deformation. There are number of taboo deformations in English, of which many refer to the infamous four-letter words. In the English language there are some euphemisms were substituted for the original, which no longer occurs in the language, for example, the word “donkey” replaced the old Indo-European-derived word “ass”. In American English, words which are unacceptable on television, such as fuck, may be represented by deformations such as freak – even in children’s cartoons. Some subjects are considered personal, sensitive or taboo in English. For this reason, people avoid mentioning them by name and instead use a “euphemism” or humorous expression to refer to them. The word “lavatory” has naturally produced many euphemisms. Here some of them: powder room, washroom, restroom, ladies’ room, gentlemen’s room. Pregnancy is another topic for delicate using this word. There are some substitutes for the adjective pregnant: an interesting condition, in a delicate condition, in the family way, with a baby coming, with child expecting.

The keys to understanding euphemisms are the concepts of avoidance and etiquette. We euphemize when we are avoiding giving offence. Euphemisms are also used for some physical disabilities, including “hard of hearing” for deafness, or “has diffi culty walking “ for “lameness”. As it has been noticed the numbers of euphemisms in the sphere of alcohol are over 2000. Such as cod, fap, sponge, tightwa, fresh etc. Above all euphemisms are used in polite company to avoid the typical speech of power levels of society. This term refers to the substitution of a milder expression for a harsh or unacceptable one. This includes classical euphemisms such as “pass on” for “die”.

Euphemisms for death and murder.

The English language contains numerous euphemisms related to dying, death, burial, and the people and places which deal with death. The practice of using euphemisms for death is likely to have originated with the magical belief that to speak the word “death” was to invite death; where to “draw Death’s attention” is the ultimate bad fortune – a common theory holds that death is a taboo subject in most English-speaking cultures for precisely this reason. It may be said that one is not dying, but fading quickly because the end is near. People who have died are referred to as having passed away or passed or departed. Contemporary euphemisms and sometimes dysphemisms for death tend to be quite colourful , e.g. “Kick the bucket” , “Turned their toes up” seems innocuous enough until one considers that such might be fatal if such removes a commonplace stand that prevents a suicidal hanging.

Deceased is a euphemism for “dead” and sometimes the deceased is said to have gone to a better place, but this is used primarily among the religious with a concept of Heaven.

Humorous expressions to refer to death:

 meet your maker: “He’s gone to meet his maker.”

 six feet under: “I won’t worry about money When I’m six feet under.”

 pushing up daisies: “Last I heard about him, he’s pushing up daisies.”

 snuff it: “I’ve heard that poor old Ernie has snuffed it.”

 popped his clogs: “Harold popped his clogs last year.”

 kick the bucket: “So Joe has fi nally kicked the bucket.”

As a result of distribution and infl uences of mass media and different psychological levers on language presently constructing type euphemism will intensively penetrate into all spheres colloquial and a literary language. Especially distributed tendencies are given in the English language in the USA, where advertising and business really without any restriction “break” language on the order. It is not surprised because even some American linguists suggest distinguishing two languages: “language of the facts” and “language of ideas”.