They are used to soften a remark, to attenuate a fact, to make it less acerbic or violent, and sometimes to maintain an ounce of benevolence.
Euphemisms , from the Greek
euphêmismos
"
good word
", serve, as the first edition of the
Encyclopédie
(1751) indicates, to "
disguise from the imagination ideas which are either not honest, or disagreeable, or sad, or harsh ;
and for that one does not use proper expressions which would directly excite these ideas
”.
The editorial staff invites you to discover the history of these watered-down expressions that we use on a daily basis.
To discover
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The third Age"
A classic in the land of understatements.
The "third age" designates the elderly, the "old" as the "young" would say.
The expression refers directly to the classification of the ages of life in antiquity.
This distinguished between youth, adulthood and old age, which was then the "third age".
It should be noted that the notion of "fourth age" is developing more and more, as a result of the lengthening of the lifespan.
It remains to be seen what "old" now means...
"To die"
It can be hard to come to terms with the death of someone close to you, let alone talk about it.
The expression "to give up the soul" was born in the 13th century, we read in the CNRTL, at a time when the "
soul
" already referred to the "
spiritual principle of man
".
"Surrender" the soul then has a religious connotation, and emphasizes the idea that the soul becomes once again the possession of its creator.
In the same spirit, we can find, among the euphemisms designating death, "to be called back to God" or even "to make the last journey".
"To be thanked"
Not so long ago, under the pen of Balzac for example, the expression was used to speak of a lover who was leaving.
"
Du Tillet (...) learned that she was threatening to thank her lover if he ate her luxury
", we read in
César Birotteau
, 1837, as reported by the CNRTL.
Today, the formula is now mainly used in the field of business.
An employee is in effect “fired” when an employer dismisses or dismisses him.
Similarly, we hear the following euphemism: "to be removed from office".
“Say two words to someone”
The expression appeared in the 19th century.
We find it, for example, in the novel
The Real Mysteries of Paris
(1844) by Eugène-François Vidocq: “
Yes, let them give it to each other, and we will say two words to the hideout of these rupins.”
It implies that a person wishes to have an explanation with someone but that this one would be very short... because explosive.
In general, indeed, it is the harbinger of a conflict, a settling of accounts or at least a heated discussion.
We also sometimes hear the variant: “to touch two words”.
"Leaving Ship"
The euphemism is a variant of the medieval expression “the rats leave the ship”.
At the time, we saw in the escape of rats within a moored boat or at sea the sign of a coming storm.
Since then, despite the invention of chains that make the weather good or bad, the expression has remained but is used to depict an escape.
Rats being the first to save themselves, those who jump ship are the first to abandon a project or people in a difficult moment.
But then what about the expression "to be made like rats"?
Who is the “rat”, the one who leaves the ship or the one who stays there?
