Luận văn thạc sĩ euphemism of death and sex in english and vietnamese poems from cultural perspective

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

LÊ THỊ THUÝ AN

EUPHEMISM OF DEATH AND SEX IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
POEMS FROM CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE
(Uyển ngữ về cái chết và tình dục trong thơ tiếng Anh và tiếng Việt
nhìn từ góc độ văn hố)

MINOR MASTER THESIS

Major: English Linguistics
Code: 8220201.01

HANOI - 2019


VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

LÊ THỊ THUÝ AN

EUPHEMISM OF DEATH AND SEX IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
POEMS FROM CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE
(Uyển ngữ về cái chết và tình dục trong thơ tiếng Anh và tiếng Việt
nhìn từ góc độ văn hố)

MINOR MASTER THESIS

Major: English Linguistics
Code: 8220201.01
Supervisor: Dr. Huỳnh Anh Tuấn

HANOI - 2019


DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP

I, Le Thi Thuy An, hereby state that, this minor thesis is the result of my own
research and all the materials in this study which is not my own work has been
identified and acknowledged. I also state that the substance of the thesis has not,
wholly or in part, been submitted for any degree to any other universities or
institutions.

Supervisor

MA. student

Dr. Huỳnh Anh Tuấn

Lê Thị Thuý An

i


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research has been accomplished with the support and encouragement of

many people. Hence, I hereby would like to express my appreciation to all of them.
In the first place, I would like to express my deepest thanks to my supervisor,
Dr. Huỳnh Anh Tuấn, for his valuable assistance and guidance throughout my
research.
Also, I am greatly indebted to all the professors and staff of the Faculty of Post
- Graduate Studies for their meaningful lessons and precious support thanks to which
I was able to overcome obstacles during the time my research was carried out.
Last but not least, I owe a great debt of gratitude to my beloved family
whose support and encouragement have always been a great deal of motivation that
has helped me to overcome all problems to complete my thesis.

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ABSTRACT

Euphemism is a linguistic device to express emotions, ideas and transmit
attitudes in a more neutral way. Besides, euphemism, as a universal phenomenon, is
culturally specific. This study aims at investigating the use of euphemisms of death
and sex in English and Vietnamese poems. Specifically, the study seeks to explore
how death and sex euphemisms are used in poems and identify the similarities and
differences in their use from a cultural perspective. The research employed the
descriptive and contrastive method in analyzing the data and adopted a qualitative
approach. The data analysis demonstrates that both English and Vietnamese
euphemism is employed as face-keeping and taboo-avoiding function. However, in
English death is more perceived as relief, peace, a sleep, a reunion or an end while
in Vietnamese, death is perceived as a heroic loss or a natural force. Sex in English
is often perceived as a war and function. Whereas, in Vietnamese, sex is often
conceptualized as nature and companionship.
Keywords: euphemism, dysphemism, poems, cultural perspective

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP .................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................. iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................ iv
LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................. vi
Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION...................................................................................1
1.1. Rationales ............................................................................................................1
1.2. The aim and objectives of the study .................................................................2
1.3. Research questions .............................................................................................2
1.4. The significance of the research ........................................................................2
1.5. The research method..........................................................................................3
1.6. The structure of the study .................................................................................3
Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................5
2.1. Euphemism .........................................................................................................5
2.2. Euphemism formation .......................................................................................6
2.3. Features of euphemism across cultures ...........................................................9
2.4. Sex and death euphemisms in review .............................................................11
2.4.1. Death euphemisms in English and Vietnamese ..............................................11
2.4.2. Sex euphemisms in English and Vietnamese ..................................................15
2.4.3. Sex and death euphemisms from a cultural perspective .................................17
Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY ...............................................................................22
3.1. Ressearch questions .........................................................................................22
3.2. Research approach and method .....................................................................22
3.3. The data.............................................................................................................23
3.4. Data collection procedure ................................................................................23

3.5. Data analysis procedure ..................................................................................23
3.6. Analytical framework ......................................................................................24

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Chapter 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ..........................................................26
4.1. Findings .............................................................................................................26
4.1.1 Death euphemisms used in English and Vietnamese poems ...........................26
4.1.2 Sex euphemisms used in English and Vietnamese poems ...............................33
4.2. Discussion ..........................................................................................................42
4.2.1. Death euphemisms used in Engish and Vietnamese poems ...........................45
4.2.2. Sex euphemisms used in English and Vietnamese poems ..............................47
Chapter 5 CONCLUSION .....................................................................................51
5.1. Summary ...........................................................................................................51
5.2. Implications ......................................................................................................52
5.3. Limitations and further research ...................................................................53
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................54
APPENDICES ........................................................................................................... I

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: How death and sex euphemisms are used in English and Vietnamese
poems .............................................................................................................24
Table 2: Similarities in the use of death and sex euphemisms in English and
Vietnamese poems .........................................................................................25
Table 3: Differences in the use of death and sex euphemisms in English and

Vietnamese poems .........................................................................................25
Table 4: Death euphemisms used in English and Vietnamese poems .................32
Table 5: Sex euphemisms used in English and Vietnamese poems.....................42
Table 6: Euphemisms of sex as a companionship................................................48

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Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationales
Euphemism is a common linguistic phenomenon in all languages. Eversince
the beginning of the world, people have tried to make themselves understood and to
understand others to communicate; they have used all forms of communication, and
in time words or written signs as well as spoken forms have become more and more
specialized and complete.
Words, along with human evolution and development, have been endowed
with power, ideology and social change. This is what has been called the social
construction of reality. Therefore, words interpret the whole of our experience and
carry an entire upload of cultural and social-bound significance. Hai-long (2008, p.
55) went on to say that language and culture are inseparable from each other. As an
inalienable part of language, euphemism bears the mark of culture. He continues
that it can be easily tracked in our conversation and they reflect different levels of
culture and various patterns of culture. To some extent, euphemism is a mirror of
culture.
It is in that sense that euphemism, a special kind of words, as a medium of
communication, is chosen to investigate in the light of cultural perspective in
English and Vietnamese poems.
In so far, we have discussed that language demonstrates culture and the use
of euphemism is different from culture to culture. Therefore, cultural differences

may lead to communication breakdown (Daim et al., 2012), and there exists a need
to study euphemism in cultural contrastive analysis of English and Vietnamese
poems.
For years, study of euphemism in English and Vietnamese poems has been
neglected, meanwhile, euphemism is not only a social phenomenon, but also a
lingual phenomenon (Pan, 2013, p. 1). Studying English euphemism in comparison

1


with Vietnamese one may bring to light the similarities and differences in the two
languages and cultures, which seeks to help EFL learners understand and have
better use of English. This may also help EFL learners to have confidence in crosscultural communication.
What is more, in Vietnam, there has been a neglect of research into the
politeness strategies in cross-cultural communication in English and Vietnamese.
This present study seeks to propose some suggestions on using euphemism to
prevent communication breakdown. As an English teacher, the author would love to
contribute

to

the

understanding

of

euphemism,

thus

promote

smooth

communication based on cultural contrastive analysis of English and Vietnamese
poems.
In conclusion, the study attempts to investigate the euphemistic forms of
English and Vietnamese poems from a contrastive analytical perspective, from the
perspectives of various scholars working on euphemism and its elements and issues.
1.2. The aim and objectives of the study
This study aims at investigating the use of euphemisms of death and sex in
English and Vietnamese poems. Specifically, the study seeks to explore how death
and sex euphemisms are used in the poems and identify the similarities and
differences in their use from a cultural perspective.
1.3. Research questions
This present study seeks to answer the following research questions (RQ):
1. How are euphemisms of death and sex used in English and Vietnamese
poems?
2. What are the similarities and differences in the use of euphemisms of
death and sex in English and Vietnamese poems from a cultural perspective?
1.4. The significance of the research
In so doing, this study contributes important insights into cross-cultural
communication both in sociolinguistic and socio-cultural aspects of the use of
euphemism. This also hopes to enhance cross-cultural motivation, including

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politeness strategies, cultural values and conventional awareness and harmonious

communication.
No research is able to represent precisely and accurately all the features of
the entire target population (Charles, 1998). This research is no exception and it is
limited to the analysis of euphemistic expressions on two topics: death and sex. It is
because human interaction in any type of situation usually avoids anything
unpleasant or embrassing. Euphemism has, therefore, flourished across multiple
themes and topics, which causes difficulties in choosing more topics for analysis in
the scope of a minor thesis.
1.5. The research method
This study employs a qualitative approach, which involves collecting,
analyzing and interpreting qualitative data in a single study. This employment is
adopted because qualitative data may provide a deep examination of a phenomenon
of interest and the results can be described in relationships among variables,
meanwhile, contrastive description of the data is needed to give a clear picture of
the data in the results of the comparative analysis.
The data are twenty poems from the two websites poets.org and thivien.net
with the following data collection criteria: (1) the article must have at least one case
of euphemism; (2) the articles belong to two topics, namely death and sex.
1.6. The structure of the study
This present study begins with a brief introduction of euphemism and
euphemism in relation of cultural perspective. The research problems are justified to
set aims and objectives of the study. The research gaps in the local context are
highlighted to explain the significance of the study. A focus on the research
questions is explained thoroughly in connection with the scope of the study to
narrow down the research problems and prove the feasibility of the study. Last but
not least, a list of guidelines for the method of the study is proposed to guide
through the study.

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In chapter 1, the author reviews the extant literature and research that
motivates, generates and locates the research gaps, and furthermore, sets up the
background for the entire study.
Chapter 2 depicts the social background of Vietnamese and English cultures
on euphemistic expressions and methodological approaches adopted in this study. It
also reviews the previous studies.
Chapter 3 presents the research questions, the data and the research method
employed. The analytical framework is also discussed.
In Chapter 4, key findings and discussion are presented. A detailed account
and interpretation of the findings is presented in reference to research questions and
in relation to previous relevant research findings, which makes the findings of this
study reliable and valid.
At the end of this present study, conclusion should summarize the study
findings; focus on theoretical and practical implications as well as the limitations of
the study. This thesis presents a critical examination of the core features of
euphemism and dysphemism and their cultural differences in English and
Vietnamese.

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Chapter 2
LITERATURE REVIEW

The literature review is essential for any research due to the fact that its
function is to explore the background knowledge from existing information in the
field of the research question, to explore previous findings and to view the
interpretation of the findings (Charles, 1998). To acquire an understanding of the
general concept of euphemism, it is important to analyze the way people perceive

euphemism in section 2.1 before considering how euphemism is psychologically
created in section 2.2. Section 2.3 presents the features of euphemism of death and
sex in English and Vietnamese poems in details and analyzes the relationships
between euphemism and culture. Section 2.4 reviews previous findings on the
topics of euphemisms of death and sex.
2.1. Euphemism
First and foremost, euphemism, judging by its etymology, dates back from
the 1650s, from Greek ―euphemismos‖, which refers to the ―use of a favorable word
in place of an inauspicious one‖; from its prefix eu-, which means ―good, well‖ and
the affix -pheme means ―speak‖. There was a time in Greece when folks tried to
avoid the usage of ill-omen (bad words) or names of Gods in public ceremonies
(Etymonline, 2018). For example, the Athenians called the prison ―the chamber‖,
and the executioner ―the public man‖.
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines euphemism in this way: "the
substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend or
suggest something unpleasant; also: the expression so substituted." Leech (1981, p.
45) defines euphemism as "the practice of referring to something offensive or
delicate in terms that make it sound more pleasant." Sanderson (1999, p. 259) also
states that euphemism "can be used as a way of being vague and unclear, or to cover
up the truth or reality of a situation." At the same time, Johnstone (2018, p. 59)
phrases that euphemism is "the use of a supposedly less objectionable variant for a
word with negative connotations."

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Noticeably, there is another entity called dysphemism, the opposite term of
euphemism, which may not often appear in our daily language use (Burridge,
2004). Dysphemism is an entity ―with connotations that are offensive either about
the denotatum or to the audience, or both, and it is substituted for a neutral or

euphemistic expression for just that reason‖ (Allan & Burridge, 1991, p. 26). A
dysphemism is generally used to offend someone deliberately. For example, the
sentence ―My boss is something else‖ may not carry a swear or an offensive idea
but it is something of negativity.
There are words and topics which are not usually supposed to be spoken of
directly in different cultures. It is here to say then euphemism is employed to
encompass the sensitive subjects such as religion, politics, sex, death, human body
and diseases. It is in this sense we see that the origin of euphemism has its own
social foundation. When communicating with each other, people not only have to
think of where they are, what to talk about, but also how to express their ideas. It is
when they may need to express what they want to say indirectly or to choose a
roundabout way to avoid any embarrassment or harassment and so euphemism
comes into being. At this point, we can conclude that euphemism is a social product
and it is worth comparing and contrasting among cultures.
2.2. Euphemism formation
Euphemism may take different forms. The most common formation of
euphemism is abstraction. Speakers may avoid using unpleasant or embarrassing
truth by using a form of abstraction such as ‗go to the West‘ instead of ‗die‘ or
Dũng (1948) expressed the death in a euphemistic way:
―Anh bạn dãi dầu không bước nữa
Gục lên súng mũ bỏ quên đời‖
(leans on the rifle, forgets life)
(Dũng, 1948)
Rawson (1981, p. 9) states that the strength of particular taboos may be
dissipated by casting ideas in the most general possible terms, also, abstractions,

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being quite opaque to the uninformed eye (and meaningless to the untrained ear)

make ideal cover-up words.
The second formation is abbreviations. Users of language sometimes tend to
use the initials of words to refer to an offensive reference or taboo. For example,
they say ―SOB‖ for ―son of a bitch‖ or in Vietnamese, ―ĐM‖ for ―đ** m**‖. It can
also be playing with abbreviations; for instance, ―sugar honey ice tea‖ for ―shit‖ or
―cờ mờ nờ rờ‖ (cmnr) for ―con mẹ nó rồi‖ in Vietnamese. Baker (1981) calls this
alphabeticisms and this part of euphemism can function in disguising unpleasant
and embarrassing terms (Cottle, 1975) and Burridge (2004) states that due to
semantic preciseness, abbreviation can function as fluent communication
facilitators, yet also form a barrier between interlocutors. This is also called
omission. Adams (1985) views omissions as part of euphemism from a unique
perspective. He argues that fictional omissions can be seen frequently, and that it is
the fact that omissions are related intimately to euphemism. He says ―… only if
language … tried to prettify or cosmeticize the effect. You should call euphemism
the deodorant of language; if so, a code of silent omissions would correspond …‖
(Adams, 1985, p. 47).
Thirdly, people sometimes mispronounce words as a euphemistic strategy.
For example, ―shoot‖ instead of ―shit‖ or in Vietnamese, ―đù m*‖ in stead of ―đ**
m*‖. And it is that ―mispronunciation supposedly soften the sounds of the bumps in
the night‖ (Rawson, 1981, p. 42).
Fourthly, euphemism can be disguised under the use of foreign or technical
terms. For example, ―đám hiếu‖ instead of ―đám tang‖. Present day languages are
the the results of long-term association with and effects of other languages. Foreign
words and phrases are often observed in many languages to replace words more
pleasantly than the original‘s native‘s language words (Cooper, 1993). The use of
foreign words has a close link to culture as Orwell (1970, p. 160) states that foreign
words ―… are used to give an air of culture and elegance.‖

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Last but not least, euphemism has a metaphoric formation. This is the
semantic feature of euphemism, which refers to an implied comparison between two
things; for instance, ―melons‖ or ―bưởi‖ in Vietnamese as euphemism of women‘s
breasts. Euphemism and metaphor are both figures of speech. A euphemism is a
word or phrase that is used for replacing something people do not wish to refer to
directly. Therefore, euphemism proves to be an interesting means of coping with
such a reality as death, sex. They provide a ―protective shield‖ against a feared,
fearful and unpleasant fact. Meanwhile, a metaphor is often a word, a phrase or a
short sentence that is is employed to hint something so as to make it clearer, more
picturesque. In comparison to euphemism, which seeks to disguise or avoid its
subject, metaphor attempts to strengthen or to make it more colorful. There are two
characteristic metaphors: dying metaphors and mixed metaphors. Dying metaphors
implicate clichés (Baker, 1981), which are regarded when ―… they become so much
a part of our regular language that we cease thinking of them as metaphors at all‖
(Hayakawa & Hayakawa, 1990, p. 80) and mixed metaphors are rich of affective
elements such as allusion, irony, pathos, humor, lies and so forth. From
metaphorical conceptual perspectives, there are three conventional heterogeneities
which form metaphors: (1) structural metaphors are the ―cases where one concept is
metaphorically structured in terms of another‖ (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980, p. 14), (2)
oriental metaphors do not ―structure one concept in terms of another but instead
organize a whole system of concepts with respect to one another … since most of
them have to do with spatial orientation: up-down, in-out, front-back, on-off, deepshallow, central-peripheral‖ (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980, p. 14), and (3) ontological
metaphors involve a ―… way of viewing events, activities, emotions, ideas, etc., as
entities and substances‖ (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980, p. 25).
To show the links between poetry and metaphors, Swift (as cited in Kehl,
1975, p. 136) states ―a poem should do: develop, use up, the metaphor,‖ metaphor
serves as a significant mechanism in poetry and remains an integral instrument to
diffuse readers‖ imaginary worlds (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980). Orwell (1970) states

8


that metaphors can make the meaning obscure to both addressor and addressee and
that ―the sole aim of a metaphor is to call up a visual image. When these images
clash … it can be taken as certain that the writer is not seeing a mental image of the
objects he is naming: in other words he is not really thinking‖ (Orwell, 1970, p.
164). In the same line, Gambino (1973, p. 16) points out poets use metaphors and
similes to heighten meanings … use them to blur meanings.
2.3. Features of euphemism across cultures
Speaking of features of euphemism, Nilwati (2012) lists out three prominent
linguistic phenomena as follows:
(1) Euphemism as a universal phenomenon. All languages and cultures have
certain euphemistic expressions that are unfavored to be spoken of directly. Brown
and Levinson (1987) report that evidence indicates that euphemism is a universal
feature of language usage.
(2) Euphemism as a culturally specific phenomenon. It is in this sense,
euphemism bounds strongly to cultures. For example, it is common to speak of age
in Chinese, but that is not that popular in English language, although, they may be
really ―old‖ (Qi, 2010). Fershtman, Gneezy, and Hoffman (2011) confirm this that
the use of euphemism is based on cultural values and beliefs.
(3) Euphemism as a dependent phenomenon. The use of euphemism may be
good or bad depending on how it is used. The first case, good, is when the user
wants to maintain their face or politeness and a social harmonious conversation
which is the most common. The second case, bad, is when the user uses euphemism
as a mechanism to lessen or deceive reality. For example, the French called their
war in Vietnam ―civilization Francais‖ (Mintz, McNeil, Lienhard, Lin, & Rapp,
2016).
Besides, euphemistic features can be looked into from different angles.
Euphemism usage can be different from genders. For example, we may often hear

of young ladies refer to their monthly period as ―the old friend‖ or in Vietnamese
―đèn đỏ‖, such terms are more often used among women. Furthermore, we may not

9


be polite enough to speak of women as ―fat‖ or comment on their physical
appearance. Lakoff (2004) made an attempt to explore why women seem generally
more polite than men.
Euphemism differs among people of different social statuses. The upper
class may not consider much about using taboos in their daily life because of their
power over that, but those who belong to lower class are more cautious of the
language they use in daily conversations for fear of offending the powerful people
(Pan, 2013).
Euphemism is commonly used in many aspects of daily and social cultural
life as physiological phenomena, as a communicative means (Pan, 2013). Along
with the development of society, people pursue the language utilization to show that
they are civilized and cultivated. Spontaneously the use of euphemism is a
politeness communicative device. It is here that politeness function is to show
respect to others and run a harmonious social relationship and obtain the
communicative goals.
Euphemism from cultural perspective has been looked into by many
scholars. Fershtman et al. (2011) concluded that what is tabooed in one society may
not be the norm in another and euphemism is culture-based. They also confirmed
that ―taboos change over time, some become stronger while others disappear‖ (p.
152) and some taboos which are related to food, like kosher food, may be restricted
in Jewish society, or for Hindus, eating beef is a taboo. Al-Shamali (1997)
investigated the euphemized expressions used in the Jordan Valley dialect and
found out that the traditional social variables had an impact on the choice of a
certain euphemistic expressions.

Also in terms of religious euphemism in cultures, Frajzyngier and Jirsa
(2006, p. 531) concluded that in English the terms Lord and Virgin are used for
Jesus and Mary. Similarly, in Polish there is a variety of indirect means of reference
to Jesus and Mary, e.g.: Pan Jezus, Lord Jesus, Zbawiciel, Saviour, Najs wietsza
Maria Panna, The most Holy Virgin Mary, Niepokalana, Immaculate, Matka Boska
God's Mother.

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When it is that euphemism is a linguistic and cultural mechanism by which
ideas are shaped and reshaped to replace the unpleasant with the easy-to-listen to
ones or to be polite, to keep face and to avoid communication breakdown. It is in
this sense that Grice (2013) proposed four maxims, which is also known as Gricean
maxims, and it is sometimes referred to as Cooperative Principle (CP) and he stated
―Our talk exchanges do not normally consist of a succession of disconnected
remarks and would not be rational if they did. They are characteristically, to some
degree at least, cooperative efforts; and each participant recognize in them, to some
extent, a common purpose or set of purposes, or at least a mutually accepted
direction.‖ (Grice, 2013, p. 49). Talking about his four maxims, Grice (2013, p. 50)
stated ―I call these categories Quantity, Quality, Relation, and Manner.‖
To look at Gricean maxims from the view of culture, now the question
arises: What are the differences between cultures? Once again, euphemism is
basically directed towards achieving acceptance, in that case, speakers have to
move people by what is said to how is said, and it is time when speakers must
complete these tasks by words. Then come politeness and the notion of face keeping
(Brown & Levinson, 1987). It is because euphemism is also used to ―avoid facethreatening acts‖ (FTA) (Brown & Levinson, 1987, p. 91). In other words, Brown
& Levinson (1987, p. 313) take into account ―the relative wieghtings of three wants:
(1) the want to communicate the content of the FTA, (2) the want to be efficient or
urgent, and (3) the want to maintain H‘s (addressee‘s) face to any degree.‖ They go

on to discuss redressive action referring to the ―action that ―gives face‖ to the
addressee, that is, that attempts to counteract the potential face damage of FTA.‖
2.4. Sex and death euphemisms in review
2.4.1. Death euphemisms in English and Vietnamese
In Vietnamese, the number of death euphemism accounts for about 280
(Hinh, 2004, p. 55), in another work by Giang (1997, as cited in Trương, 2003, p.
8), he lists more than 1000 death euphemisms. In a general grasp, we see that
Vietnamese death euphemisms fall into two groups: compound and phrase.

11


Compound death euphemisms are mãn lộc (out of luck), ngạ tử (die of hunger), tịch
diệt (loss of everything), vĩnh quyết (parting forever), băng hà (the king dies), biệt
cõi trần (leave life), bỏ mình (lose one’s life), bỏ tuổi xanh (lose young life), qua đời
(pass away) as in:
Của có khơng nào khác đám mây
Người tan hiệp sao dường bọt nước
Tịch cốc can bề ngạ từ
Hai con Cô Trúc đã về đâu? (Thanh, 1968).
or
Nằm đây tưởng chuyện ngàn sau
Lung linh nến cháy hai đầu áo quan
Gió lìa cành lá khơng vang
Tin ta vĩnh quyết trân gian hững hờ (Dzếnh, 1943)
or
Lưu Trọng Lư ơi! Biệt cõi trần
Tiếng thu man mác nhạc trong ngần
Nửa đêm sực tỉnh... Đời pha mộng
Da diết lòng Anh một chữ Nhân! (Hữu, 1992).

or
Tám mươi ba tuổi Tết Tân Mùi
Vợ đã qua đời, mắt lại đui!
Số vậy, thân đành cam chịu vậy
Người vui, mình cũng gượng làm vui
Lư trầm dĩ vãng nâng niu nhúm
Bếp lửa ưu tư lặng lẽ vùi
Ngồi tựa bình mai nghe pháo nổ
Nửa xuân gần gũi nửa xa xôi...(Tấn, 2007).
Many more death euphemisms are found in the combination of two verbs
such as: bỏ đi (leave), ra đi (leave), tắt thở (stop breathing), in the combination of
two nouns such as: trăm tuổi (100 years old) as in ―còn bố mẹ tôi đi đưa đám ma
người ta, lúc nào trăm tuổi người ta sẽ tới khóc chia buồn nên gọi là khóc đổi‖ (my

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parents go to a funeral, when they are 100 years old, people will come and cry for
them and it is called ‗exchanging funeral cry‘).
In another poem ‗Kính viếng 10 cơ gái Ngã ba Đồng Lộc‘ by Hảo (2016) ,
he wrote:
Ngã ba Đồng Lộc anh hùng
Mười cơ n nghỉ bóng lồng hương hoa
Non sông đất nước quê nhà
Tiếng chuông vang vọng ngân nga đất trời
Xuân hương sắc tuổi đôi mươi
Mười cô yên nghỉ giữa đồi cỏ xanh
Rừng thông bát ngát reo quanh
Vọng lời tổ quốc hát thành bài ca. (Hảo, 2016)
He describes the death as ―yên nghỉ‖ (rest in peace ), in so doing, he

promotes the patriotic spirit of the ten heroines in Dong Loc Battle.
In English literature, the use of death euphemisms has been an oldest way of
saying what not to say and the number of death euphemism in English is numerous
(Enright, 2004). It is here that we can name some big dictionaries of euphemism in
English such as Bloombury Dictionary of Euphemism (Ayto, 2000), Oxford
Dictionary of Euphemisms (Holder, 2008), Slang and Euphemism Dictionary
(Spears, 1981) and Death Euphemism (Ahmed, 2011).
Noticably, Holder (2008) sets examples of many euphemistic expressions of
death used in today‘s English such as: pass away, pass on the other side, pass over,
pass into the next world, leave the land of the living, go to heaven, go to our rest, go
to a better place, go to our long home, go west, go under, sleep away, return to
ashes, put a person to sleep, put to the sword, self seliverance, have gone, farewell
part of Being Jewish, gave up the ghost, kicked the bucket, slipped away, eternal
sleep, demise, departed, breathed her last, met his maker and so on as in:
Going to heaven!
I don‘t know when-

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Pray do not ask me how!
Indeed I‘m too astonished
To think of answering you!
Going to heaven! (Emily Dickinson, 2007)
or
Part of being Jewish is a Choice
Part of being Jewish is a Choice
As one becomes an act of preservation.
Seders start the stream of admonition,
Stories meant to bind one to the past. (Emily Dickinson, 1989)or

Don‘t cry for me
I‘m not gone
My soul is at rest,
my heart lives on. (Christy Ann Martine, 2004)
or
Twilight and evening bell,
and after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
when I embark. (Lord Alfred Tennyson, 1990)
or
The only way to get ahead
Is exploit the weak and to burn your dead
Just look to history
Society in moral decay
Here tomorrow
Or gone today
Oh yeah
We‘ll return to ashes one day. (Jamie Christopherson, 2000)

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2.4.2. Sex euphemisms in English and Vietnamese
Sex and sexual body parts have become a religion in Vietnam for a long time
and they also perfom as a mysterious or magical function to mention them and who
those mention the topic is regarded as low status in the society. The analysis of
Hinh (2004) shows that there are about fifty-five sex euphemisms in Vietnamese.
For example:
Đương khi lửa tắt cơm xơi
Lợn kêu, con khóc, chồng đòi tòm tem (Ngọc, 1997).

Other cases originate from daily life such as ngủ, đi lại, chung đụng, ân ái,
tính giao, or mây mưa as in:
Mây mưa đánh đổ đá vàng
Quá chiều nên đã chán chường yến anh
Nào người phượng chạ loan chung
Nào người tiếc lục than hồng là ai? (Du, 1814 (1814-1820?)).
Phan Huyền Thư talked of sexual arousal as:
Cùng sương triền đê đôi bờ
Ỡm ờ nước lũ (Thư, 2000).
In English, Holder (2008) claims that it is hard to mention a body part
without referring to sex in one way or the other and the more common way is
euphemistic substitutions used in reference to a sexual partner such as mate,
boy/girlfriend, miss, good friend… or in referring to sexual acts: get busy with, get
into bed with, get your share, get your green, get laid, hooking up, screwing, riding
it, bump and grind, scoring, nailing someone, roll in the hay, … and other such
terms as contact with, to make happy, to mate, conquer a bed as in:
Touch yourself for me
Then I‘ll ride you like a horse
I make you happy
or
Touch me all over
Then plunge it deep inside me
Like that! Yes! Yes! Yes!

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or
I wonder, by my troth, what thou and I
Did, till we loved? Were we not weaned till then?

But sucked on country pleasures, childishly? (John Donne, 1633)
Let alone some key terms in sex, Allan and Burridge (1991) state that there
are approximately 1,200 terms for ―vagina‖, 1,000 terms for ―pennis‖, 800 for
―copulation‖, and around 2000 terms for ―whore‖. And as Giddens (1991) says that
it seems sex has become a great domain in the realm of euphemism and it
subsequently creates more and more new words.
There is a wide range of expression purveying sexual connotations, and a
movement to diffuse these uses is becoming widespread in present society. At a
mere start, the use of Ms. is the result of a long-term fight for woman rights, as
Lakoff (2004) states that there are several plausible reasons why the title Ms. is
commonly used. However, the foremost reason can be explained in the use of
euphemism as a blend of Miss and Mrs to hide woman marital status and it is to
harmonize the communication event.
In an online database, Goad (2014) lists 400 euphemisms for sexual
intercourse. Some examples of which are belly-bumping, boning, boom-boom,
bouncy-bouncy, cave-diving and so on. Epstein says that in the beginning was the
word. There followed, at an undetermined but one assumes decent interval, private,
harsh and dirty words. Invention here being the mother of necessity, the need for
euphemism arose. Nowhere could this need have been greater, or more evident,
than in the realm of sex (Epstein, 1985, p. 56). Sexual euphemism: people usually
find it hard or embarrassing to talk about topics concerning sex or part of the body.
Instead of that, they resort to expressions which denote the topics. For example, in
English, people may say ―make love‖ instead of ―have sexual intercourse with‖. For
example, Bertie Higgins in his poem ―Casablanca‖ said:
Popcorn and coke beneath the stars
Became champagne and caviar
Making love on a long hot summer‘s night. (Higgins, 1994)

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2.4.3. Sex and death euphemisms from a cultural perspective
There is a number of scholars and researchers investigating death and sex
euphemisms between English and their native languages (Frajzyngier & Jirsa, 2006;
Gathigia, Ndung‘u, & Njoroge, 2015; Glass, 1975; Greene, 2001; Hai-Long, 2008;
Pan, 2013; Qi, 2010; Rice, 2016). They all prove that euphemism connects closely
with culture. For example, in referring to the death, Glass (1975) describes the death
as ―return‖ in a famous poem ―When You Didn‘t‖ to describe the harshness of
Vietnam War when his friend did not come back. He wrote:
There were plenty of things you did to put up with me,
to keep me happy, to love me, and there are
so many things I wanted to tell
you when you returned from
Vietnam...
But you didn't. (Glass, 1975)
People may use a beautiful euphemistic expression as ―the big divide‖ to
mean ―divorce‖ (Rice, 2016). This is an effective device which helps users of
language avoiding sensitive topics. In a cross-cultural study, Greene (2001)
examined the differences in the use of euphemism of death by speakers of Russian
and English and found out that tabooed terms were avoided such as death and sex.
When studying the principle of indirect means in language use and language
structure, Frajzyngier and Jirsa (2006, p. 531) added that death euphemism varies in
cultures. For example, in Kwa languages of Ghana, instead of saying ―the chief has
died‖, they say ―the chief went to the sea‖, or ‗the chief went to the village.‘
Meanwhile, in English, expressions such as ―he is not with us,‖ or ―he passed
away‖ can be heard in different social contexts.
Euphemism in death and sex attracted the attention of some other researchers
(Al-Shamali, 1997; Elyyan, 1994; Greene, 2001; Makin, 2003). In which, Elyyan
(1994) investigated the frequency of euphemism used in death and sickness. He
found out that the direct taboos were likely to be avoided. Greene (2001) focused on

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