So euphemism is where you use falsely nice words to put a happy face on something awful, and dysphemism would be taking something perfectly benign and choosing words that make everybody feel like it's horrible.
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Nowadays, caralho is commonly used as a dysphemism and in erotism.
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A dysphemism is an expression with connotations that are derogatory either about the subject matter or to the audience. Dysphemisms contrast with neutral or euphemistic expressions. Dysphemism may be motivated by fear, distaste, hatred, and contempt.
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A dysphemism is a marked form which expresses a speaker's view or attitude towards the listener or group.
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The Russian foreign agent law requires foreign-funded NGOs to register as "foreign agents" (), a Soviet-era dysphemism for Soviet dissidents.
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The word dysphemism was composed from the Greek elements dys δύς "mis-" and pheme φήμη "speech, voice, reputation" in the late 19th century.Oxford English Dictionary, 1972, s.v. Related terms include malphemism (from the Latin malus "bad"), and cacophemism (from the Greek kakos κακός "bad").
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The city is personified by the "Whore of Babylon", riding on a scarlet beast with seven heads and ten horns, and drunk on the blood of the righteous. Some scholars of apocalyptic literature believe this New Testament "Babylon" to be a dysphemism for the Roman Empire.
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"Hunting the Hun" is the name of a war song that was popular during World War I. It was performed by Arthur Fields, music by Archie Gottler and words by Howard E. Rogers. It was published by Kalmar Puck & Abrahams in New York in 1918. "Hun" was a wartime dysphemism meaning "German".
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Feces, vomit, semen and menstrual blood were rated as most revolting while nail parings, breath, blood from a wound, hair clippings, and breast milk were rated as least revolting. This continuum of the level of revulsion is apparent in certain dysphemism such as shitter for "toilet", to come for "to ejaculate", and puke hole for "tavern" or "toilet".
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For example, during the development of the SR-71 Blackbird spy plane, Lockheed engineers at the "Skunk Works" under Clarence "Kelly" Johnson used unobtainium as a dysphemism for titanium. Titanium allowed a higher strength-to-weight ratio at the high temperatures the Blackbird would reach, but its availability was restricted because the Soviet Union controlled its supply.
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There have also been movements to reclaim words for homosexuals such as "queer", "fag" and "dyke". Other historic examples of dysphemism reclamation include the term Impressionism, which originated as a critical remark that "Monet's Impression, Sunrise was not art, it was an impression", but was adopted to be the formal name of the style, and was accepted by the artists themselves.
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The Stinking Old Ninth () is a Chinese dysphemism for intellectuals used at two major points. The term originated during the Yuan dynasty where the Mongol conquerors identified ten "castes" of Chinese: bureaucrats, officials, Buddhist monks, Taoist priests, physicians, workers, hunters, prostitutes, (ninth) Confucian scholars and finally beggars, with only beggars at a status below the intellectuals.Ya Se (雅瑟) and Qing Ping (青苹), eds. (2014). 中华词源 (Etymologies of China).
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She was aware that some of her dialogue was based on what had been said to Moffat during his own separation. Robert and Tracy Glazebrook (Paul Raffield and Tracie Bennett) are their "increasingly bizarre and totally dim friends". They are initially Becky's friends, but soon befriend Mark, comforting him on the night Becky leaves him. Tracy, as Tracie Bennett identifies, is a stereotypical Tracy-- normally a dysphemism for an intellectually inadequate, usually blonde, female.
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Kathryn "Kate" Burridge, FAHA, is a prominent Australian linguist specialising in the Germanic languages. Burridge currently occupies the Chair of Linguistics in the School of Languages, Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics at Monash University. Burridge's work has mainly focused on Pennsylvania German-speaking communities in Canada, grammatical change in Germanic languages, the nature of euphemism and dysphemism, linguistic taboo, and on English grammatical structure in general. She is currently co-editor of the Australian Journal of Linguistics.
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Military slang, in any language, is also full of humorous expressions; the term "fart sack" is military slang for a cotton mattress cover that completely contains a "rack" or thin mattress. Barrack humor also often makes use of dysphemism, such as the widespread usage of "shit on a shingle" for chipped beef. Certain military expressions, like friendly fire, are a frequent source of satirical humor. Notable cartoonists of military humor include Bill Mauldin, Dave Breger, George Baker, Shel Silverstein and Vernon Grant.
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Nebuchadnezzar II, sometimes conflated with Nabonidus, appears as the foremost ruler in this narrative. The Book of Revelation in the Christian Bible refers to Babylon many centuries after it ceased to be a major political center. The city is personified by the "Whore of Babylon", riding on a scarlet beast with seven heads and ten horns, and drunk on the blood of the righteous. Some scholars of apocalyptic literature believe this New Testament "Babylon" to be a dysphemism for the Roman Empire.
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The process of pejoration leads to words that were once considered euphemisms to now be considered dysphemisms. In American culture, words like "colored" were once considered euphemisms, but have since been replaced by terms like "black" and "African-American". Sometimes slight modifications of dysphemisms can make them acceptable: while "colored people" is considered dysphemistic, "people of color" does not carry the same connotations. The words "idiot" and "moron" were once polite terms to refer to people with mental disabilities, but they are now rarely used without dysphemism.
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"Welsh" was probably used as a pejorative, chauvinistic, and xenophobic dysphemism,Eric Partridge, Words, Words, Words!, 1939, republished as in 2015, p. 8 meaning "anything substandard or vulgar",Kate Burridge, Blooming English: Observations on the Roots, Cultivation and Hybrids of the English Language, , 2004, p. 220 and suggesting that "only people as poor and stupid as the Welsh would eat cheese and call it rabbit",Robert Hendrickson, The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, 1997, as quoted in Horn, "Spitten image"cf.
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There may also be instances in which conflicting definitions of the same word may lead to unintentional dysphemism. The pejorative use of the word terrorist is a salient example, as definitions of the word terrorist may vary across cultures and even within individuals in the same culture. Typically the word "terrorist" refers to one who uses violence and fear as a means to pursue political, religious or ideological aims. This definition is ambiguous, and many groups that refer to themselves as "freedom fighters", "revolutionaries", "rebels" or "liberators" are referred to as "terrorists" by dissenting parties.
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On The King of Queens, Doug Heffernan (the main character played by Kevin James) is known for saying shutty, which is also a variation of the phrase that has since been used by the show's fans. A dysphemism, shut the front door, was used often by Stacy London of TLC's What Not to Wear during the U.S. show's run from 2003–2013. It was also used in an Oreo commercial on American TV in 2011, prompting some parents to object.Nabisco in hot water over Oreo cookie ad , Knoxnews.
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The hacker's Jargon File defines a dead-tree version to be a paper version of an on-line document, where "dead trees" refer to paper.jargon File, article "dead-tree version" It is a dysphemism for hard copy. A saying from the Jargon File is that "You can't grep dead trees",Jargon File, article "Documentation" from the Unix command `grep` meaning to search the contents of text files. This means that an advantage of keeping documents in digital form rather than on paper is that they can be more easily searched for specific contents.
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In the United States, chipped beef on toast was commonly served to service members of the United States Armed Forces. It was thus considered emblematic of the military experience, much as pea soup is in Finland or Sweden. In American military slang it is commonly referred to by the dysphemism "Shit On a Shingle" (SOS), or "Stew On a Shingle", "Same Old Stuff", "Something On a Shingle", or occasionally "Save Our Stomachs".Robert Orben Wentworth and Flexner cite no origin for the term, but noted "shingle" for slice of toast has had "some use since 1935" in the U.S. Army, mostly in the expression "shit on a shingle", and the latter had "wide World War II Army use".
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Regarded as the most important figure in French pop whilst alive, he was renowned for often provocative and scandalous releases which caused uproar in France, dividing its public opinion, as well as his diverse artistic output, which ranged from his early work in jazz, chanson, and yé-yé to later efforts in rock, funk, reggae, and electronica. Gainsbourg's varied musical style and individuality make him difficult to categorize, although his legacy has been firmly established and he is often regarded as one of the world's most influential popular musicians. His lyrical works incorporated wordplay, with humorous, bizarre, provocative, sexual, satirical or subversive overtones, including sophisticated rhymes, mondegreen, onomatopoeia, spoonerism, dysphemism, paraprosdokian and pun. Gainsbourg wrote over 550 songs,:fr:Liste des chansons de Serge Gainsbourg which have been covered more than 1,000 times by a range of artists.
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