(1) “A polite word or expression that you use instead of a more direct one to avoid shocking or upsetting someone” (Lehman 120)。

(2) “Euphemism is the substitution of presumably inoffensive word for one that might give offence。 Euphemism is a soft, bland, neutral expressions used instead of one that might suggest something unpleasant!” (郭秀梅 99)

 (3) “A mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing” (Cameron 90)。

Euphemism is different from other figurative ways。 Euphemism has its own characteristics。 It makes our expressions more polite and acceptable。 Euphemism aims to strive to avoid offence by means of circumlocution。 Euphemisms are powerful linguistic ways which are “embedded so deeply in our language that few of us, even those who pride themselves on being plainspoken, get through a day without using them。” (Hugh 300)

Euphemism is an important principle which is generally related to activities of business communication。 A polite word or expression that you use instead of a more direct one can avoid shocking or upsetting someone。 In order to accelerate the promotion of people’s interpersonal communication, we should have colorful communication activities with euphemism。 

2。2 Classification of euphemism

According to different standards and principles euphemisms can be pided into many kinds。 For instance, euphemism can be pided into the positive euphemism and negative euphemism from the perspective of semantics。 

The positive euphemisms inflate and magnify the word meaning, making the euphemized ones seem grander and more important than they really are。” (Hugh 122)。 Through the semantic ascension, positive euphemism beautifies and decorates a fact that is unpleasant and detrimental to dignity。 Americans prefer the euphemism to eliminate unpleasant embarrassment。 Positive euphemisms make your words or expressions more comfortable and beautify them。 For example, we call older people into senior citizen, and we call hired girl into domestic helper。 In addition, garbage men are promoted to sanitation engineers, secretaries to instructive assistant and so on。 Positive euphemism has many other professional names, which can enhance the status and protect the self-esteem。 There is a tendency to elevate a low, humble status to a high, decent position。 Thus, this kind of euphemism is usually widely used in official languages and some other formal styles。文献综述

Negative euphemism lightens the word meaning。 The negative euphemism refers to that it makes the semantic meaning weak or vague, and makes frightening things more moderate。 It will make what you said mild。 Negative euphemism is sometimes closely related to the taboo。 For example, in many cultures, it is forbidden to pronounce the name of God, so there are substitutions such as “Geeze”, “Gee” or “Gropers creepers” for “Jesus”。 And there are other examples: “Be born” is called “see the light of day” and death is called “to be at rest” or “to go”。

Whether positive or negative euphemism can be pided into two classes by Hugh Rawson based on whether people remember the original motivation。 The unconscious euphemisms refer to that original motivations have been forgotten by people for a long time。 Take “indisposition” as an example: the original meaning of the word is “incapacity to deal with something” but its euphemistic meaning is “slight illness or ill health”， which has been frequently used for a long time。 So people hardly think of the original meaning。 The other one is called Conscious euphemisms 。When people use it, it will lead people to understand the double meaning。

3。 Theoretical Framework