In English, there are a great many euphemisms for sex, sexual organs and bodily functions that are part of the formal language as opposed to slang. Do other languages have this feature?
Thanks,
Rob
Yep.
Just checking.
Frankly, I’m not sure why you think there wouldn’t be euphemisms in other languages …
I had a longer answer composed for the two non-English languages with which I’m familiar, but the line between “slang” and “formal” is kind of blurry and seems to be highly generational, so I’m going to leave that there for now.
tl/dr: Yes, other languages have euphemisms.
La petit mort, for instance.
I was wondering what topics these euphemisms cover.
Thanks,
Rob
Is that the genteel form? I thought it was meant to be poetic and wouldn’t generally be used.
In Swedish the use of euphemisms are more or less of the same kind as it is in English.
If I recall correctly, according to Steven Pinker ALL other languages have euphemisms. According to him all other languages have taboo words also – words such as in English the F-word and the N-word that are not used in polite company.
What does this mean?
Also, can we maybe have some examples? (Maybe this is a more IMHO request…)
For example, in English “She is menstruating” is more politely “She is on her period.” And “I have to defecate/urinate” is “I have to go to the bathroom.”
Ok, here are some German examples:
to urinate - austreten, Wasser lassen
to defecate - Stuhlgang haben, ein Geschäft erledigen
to menstruate - ihre Tage haben
to have sex - Geschlechtsverkehr/Beischlaf haben (both very formal), miteinander schlafen
Thanks. How do those euphemisms translate?
Examples of Dutch euphemisms:
het kleinste kamertje - (lit. “the smallest room”) the toilet
de achterdeur - (lit. “the back door”) the anus
potverdikkie - (no literal meaning at all) “gosh-darn-it” corruption of “godverdomme”
Portuguese euphemisms:
borboleta - (lit. “butterfly”) vagina
repousar no céu - (lit. “rest in heaven”) to die/be dead
faltar com a verdade - (lit. “miss the truth”) to lie
As you can see it’s pretty much exactly the same as in English.
Ah, so you’ve been reading about titsagain. Why, I did enjoy that expression.
to urinate - austreten (“to step out(side)”, Wasser lassen (“to let water”)
to defecate - Stuhlgang haben (difficult to translate literally, maybe “to have stool”), ein Geschäft erledigen (“to dispose of one’s business”)
to menstruate - ihre Tage haben (“to have one’s days”)
to have sex - Geschlechtsverkehr/Beischlaf haben (“to have intercourse”), miteinander schlafen (“to sleep together”)
Wasser lassen, however, would be considered borderline rude in many situations.
And it’s the polite expression in Swedish.
Frankly, as a native German speaker I can’t think of a situation where this was the case. Can you give an example? I only know it as a neutral term as e. g. used in medical contexts.
Well, when I meant euphemistic words, I was thinking of things like “urinate”, “menstruate”, and “fornicate”. These may be considered a bit frank in English, but they are not considered vulgar. A lot of these words come to us from Latin via French, rather than from English’s Germanic roots. Is there are similar situation in other languages?
Thanks,
Rob