There's emphatic swearing, for instance, which is meant to highlight a point, and dysphemistic swearing, which is meant to make a point provocatively.
|
|
Some phrases that are euphemisms in certain contexts can be considered dysphemistic in others. These are often referred to as X-phemisms: whether the utterance is dysphemistic or not depending on the context of the utterance. For example, many X-phemisms regarding sexual intercourse could be considered euphemistic within peer groups yet dysphemistic in certain audiences. One might be more likely to say that one "got laid" to a friend than to one's grandparents.
|
|
Animal names are frequently used as dysphemistic epithets. By using one, the speaker offends the listener by targeting their humanity. Examples include "bitch", "pig", "chicken", "weasel", "sheep", "snake", and "rat".
|
|
Taboo terms are used as insults, epithets, and expletives because they damage the listener's face, which might destroy social harmony — especially if the speaker and listener are socially distant from each other. For this reason, terms of insult are socially taboo and dysphemistic. Breaking a social taboo can act as an emotional release, with the illocutionary act of expressing a feeling or attitude. Bad or taboo words for many things far outnumber the "good" words.
|
|
Likewise, the word "retarded" was introduced as a new polite form once the previous terms were outdated. Since then "retard" has been used dysphemistically, suggesting that this term might now be outdated as well. Often a word with both taboo and non-taboo meanings becomes restricted to the taboo definition alone. The term "euphemism treadmill", coined by Steven Pinker, describes this process, in which terms with an emotionally charged referent that were once euphemisms become dysphemistic by association with the referent.
|
|
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 In American culture, words like "colored" were once considered euphemisms, but have since been replaced by terms like "black" and "African-American".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.
|
|
Various slang terms that are dysphemistic in one culture may not be if they hold a different meaning in another culture. For instance, the word "fag" when used in American English is typically a slur against gay men. However, in British English, the word "fag" is usually an inoffensive term used to refer to a cigarette, or, previously, a junior boy who serves a senior boy in a British public school. Likewise, the word "fanny" when used in American English is a euphemism for one's buttocks, so benign that children use it.
|
|
"Nigger" would typically be dysphemistic; however, if used between African-Americans it may be seen as neutral (although extremely casual) by the listener, depending on their social distance from the speaker and perceived status relative to the other party; see "nigga". Reclamations of taboo terms have been both successful and unsuccessful. The term "chicano" was a derogatory term and has been successfully reclaimed. Some terms like "Yankee" (for an American) or "punk" (for a late 1970s rocker), began as derogatory but were not considered such and adopted proudly by the named group.
|
|