Vom Tabu zum Euphemismus in der Umschreibung des Wahnsinns

Abstract

Taboo words usually reflect nonverbal taboos of cultural, religious or social realities. Speakers tend to avoid them and replace them by using euphemistic phrases or idioms. The present paper describes the evolutionary stages of a specific meaning for German notions related to madness and idiocy. It also focuses other aspects of language use for political correctness and for purposes of detabooisation.

Keywords

• taboo words
• euphemisms for madness
• phrases and idioms
• political correctness