Euphemisms and dysphemisms

Replacing an unpleasant or delicate notion with a gentle word that does not hurt anyone is called a euphemism (from Greek eu “well” and phemi “I speak”, i.e. “speaking well”). Its opposite is a dysphemism (Greek dys “bad”), in which a notion is deliberately given a rude or exaggeratedly negative expression. Between the two stands the neutral expression. About death, for example, “ko‘z yumdi” (closed his eyes) is a euphemism, “o‘ldi” (died) is neutral, and “yer tishladi” (bit the dust) is a dysphemism. For failure, “natija umidimizdagidek bo‘lmadi” (the result was not as we hoped) is soft, “natija yomon bo‘ldi” (the result was bad) neutral, and colloquial expressions like “ish chippakka chiqdi” (the thing came to nothing) or “pachavasi chiqdi” (it fell to pieces) have a strongly negative tone. Using euphemism appropriately is a sign of culture, frequent use of dysphemism shows a low level of speech; yet overusing euphemism blurs the truth and sounds artificial.