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The Influence Of Euphemisms In The English Language

1276 Words6 Pages
Good morning everyone. We already know as AS English Language students, that English is constantly changing. It has developed and enriched over the course of time. There are many reasons for this language change. But, what I found particularly interesting is the influence of euphemisms in the way we change language according to what we think is appropriate to use and to avoid in certain situations. Now, when you think of euphemisms you would probably expect them being used in social situations, for example when people want to avoid sounding insensitive with subjects like death, they use “passed away” instead of “died”. However, I’m here today to share with you what I found interesting when I analyzed the language in the economics section of some newspapers. I investigated the semantic features of the language used by people like politicians. More specifically, I looked at how they use euphemisms during periods of economic downturns. I noticed many of the terms used to describe economic downturns are characterized by euphemisms such as “slump” and “recession”. History uncovers that our euphemisms have developed. They are constantly being created and replaced, mainly because of the psychological impact they have. Before I begin, I want to highlight exactly what I want you to take away from my presentation. I’m going to explain how our economic euphemisms are replaced over time. You will see how the words which were once used to bring comfort to the public are added to a
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