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Article published In:
Sex, Death & Politics: Taboos in Language
Edited by Melanie Keller, Philipp Striedl, Daniel Biro, Johanna Holzer and Benjamin Weber
[Pragmatics & Cognition 28:1] 2021
► pp. 138–166

When humour questions taboo

A typology of twisted euphemism use

| University of Passau
| University of Passau

The article examines the ways in which humour twists regular euphemism use. Based on the classical fields of euphemisms anchored in religion, aesthetics, social politics, and amorality, it identifies the characteristics of their twisted variants with a humorous component: playing-with-fire euphemisms that jocosely provoke supernatural forces, innuendo euphemisms that entertain, mocking euphemisms that make fun of others in a teasing or demeaning way, and idealistic euphemisms that uncover obfuscating language and negative realities. Using English, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish euphemisms of different periods and genres, the article analyses the intentions, origins, motives, functions, and styles of humour, differentiates between symbiotic and parasitic twists, and thus provides a typology of twisted euphemism use.

Keywords: euphemism, humour, entertainment, context-dependency, typology
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Typology of straight euphemism use
    • Religion
    • Aesthetics
    • Social politics
    • Amorality
    • Typology of straight euphemism use
  • 3.Twisted euphemism use
    • 3.1Playing-with-fire euphemism
    • 3.2Innuendo euphemism
    • 3.3Mocking euphemism
    • 3.4Idealistic euphemism
    • 3.5Variations
      • Playing-with-fire euphemisms beyond religion
      • Innuendo euphemisms beyond aesthetics
      • Mocking euphemisms beyond social politics
      • Idealistic euphemisms beyond amorality
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
Published online: 16 March 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pc.20027.hei
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