CHAPTER5: AMBIGUITY and EUPHEMISM

We've seen that a term like CARP varies its reference in different contexts. 

Such terms which have different meanings in different situations we describe asAMBIGUOUS.

An ambiguous word is confusing in meaning as they have many meanings. They arepolysemic(having many senses). 

Because polysemic or ambiguous terms can mean this or that , they are also calledEQUIVOCAL.
An equivocal word has got many definitions; they have various meanings.

Now, let's take a problem of Sentence Completion :

Because they had various meanings in nineteenth-century biological thought,"mechanism" and "vitalism" ought not to be considered ____________ terms; thus I find the recent insistence that the terms had single definition to be entirely _______ .

A. UNIVOCAL ------ ERRONEOUS

B. PROBLEMATIC ------ ANACHRONISTIC

C. INTRACTABLE ------ OBTUSE

D. CONTINGENT ------- SUSPECT

E. MULTIFACETED ------ VAPID

We can see that the first part of the statement says that the terms "mechanism" and "vitality" had various meanings in the past. Therefore they were actuallyEQUIVOCAL; i.e, they ought not to be considered non-equivocal. So, it's clear that they were UNIVOCAL( having just one meaning or one definition.) . We can see thatthe right choice for the first blank can only be univocal, as no other word in that column of choices has any similar meaning. In fact, as only one word from the choices can fit into the first blank, we don't have to bother about the second blank. Only choice A can fill the blanks.

When we speak in an ambiguous or equivocal manner, we EQUIVOCATE.

An Equivocation is an equivocal statement, the meaning of which is confusing.

In the same way, a platitude( an unoriginal and boring statement) is abanal(unoriginal and uninteresting) statement.
Hence,

EQUIVOCATION: AMBIGUOUS

(An ambiguous statement is called equivocation.)

just as

PLATITUDE: BANAL

(A banal statement is called a platitude.)

Let's take up a new word, 

'Euphemism' refers to a pleasant expression used in place of a harsh expression.

It is a pleasant substitute for offensive expressions. 

Sometimes, when we have to say some truth which may hurt the listener, we use a euphemism. For example, the expression, 'old man' may sound harsh to an old man.

So, we substitute 'old man' with 'senior citizen'.

'Senior citizen', therefore, can be called the 'euphemism' for 'old man'.

When we use'pass away' for 'die', we use a euphemism.

We use euphemism to avoid offense, just as we use prevarication (the telling of lies) to avoid truth.

Hence,

EUPHEMISM: OFFENSE

PREVARICATION: TRUTH

As we've seen, 'to prevaricate' is to tell lies, to be dishonest.

A prevaricator is a liar.

So, we can have a pair of related words as follows:

LIAR: PREVARICATE

 A liar is a prevaricating person.

This is a common problem of analogy.

A few more examples follow:

BRAGGART (BLOWHARD): BOAST

A brggart or a blowhard is a boasting person.

(to brag is to boast )

PATRON: SUPPORT

A patron is a supporting person

(to patronize is to support) 

HAGGLER: BARGAIN

A haggler is a bargaining person.

(to haggle is to bargain)

LAMPOONER: RIDICULE

A lampooner is a ridiculing person.

 (to lampoon is to ridicule)

MENTOR: GUIDE

A mentor is guiding person.

(to mentor is to guide)

HECKLER: HARASS

A heckler is a harassing person.

 (to heckle is to harass)

In all the above analogies we get the function of the first term in the second.