哈囉，大家好！I’m Grace!
Today we are going to talk about euphemisms 委婉語 in Chinese.
In daily life, there are some words that
people tend to say rather indirectly
because they refer to something rather unpleasant
or are related to some taboo topics 禁忌的話題
such as death 死亡 or sex 性, etc.
So today we’re going to take a look at 5 common Chinese euphemisms
so you can talk about these topics in an indirect and polite way.
那我們開始吧！ Let’s get started!
The first one is 那個.
Or you can also pronounce it as “neige”
那個 means “that” or “that one”
but sometimes it’s used to refer to something
that people don’t want to say directly.
For example, at the beginning of this video:
The person said: 不用，謝謝！我那個來。
What does “我那個來” mean?
It’s literally translated as “I that come”.
In this context, “那個 that” actually refers to “a woman’s period”.
So “我那個來” means “I’m on my period”
The formal name of “a woman’s period” is “月經” or “生理期”.
But in everyday life,
people often just use “那個” or “大姨媽” to refer to it.
Personally, I hear “那個來” more often than “大姨媽來”.
Let’s see some examples:
In a different context, 那個 can express another meaning:
For instance,
People also use 那個 to refer to well...
那個
Other euphemisms that people use to talk about having sex are
“發生關係 to happen relationship”
In Taiwan, we usually pronounce it as “發生關係“.
Another one is “上床 to go to bed”.
In Taiwan people also use “炒飯 fried rice” to indicate that.
OK, the second one is “有了”
“有” means “to have”
and “了” here is a particle that indicates a change of situation or state.
So from the dialogue,
you can tell that “有了” can be used to refer to “to get pregnant”.
But it depends on the context.
Sometimes when people suddenly get an idea,
they might also say “有了” like,
The next one is 想不開
This expression means “to take things too hard and be depressed”
But it can also mean “to commit suicide”
The formal Chinese word for “to commit suicide” is “自殺”.
But this is a heavy word
so in daily life, people often use “想不開” to replace it.
“想不開” can be used in sentences like:
OK, Number four is about death-related euphemisms.
In every language I think when it comes to talking about death,
people tend to use some euphemistic words to talk about it
so we won’t feel too overwhelmed.
In Chinese, the direct word of “to die” is “死”,
but to be polite and euphemistic,
people might say “過世” or “去世”.
Also there are some other daily expressions we use to talk about death.
For example, when we want to express “someone + 死了” (“someone died”),
we would say: “someone + 走了 / 不在了 / 離開了”.
“走” is to walk or to go.
“不在” is to not be (in a place) or to not exist
and “離開” is “to leave”.
They all can be used to replace saying 死 this word.
It’s the same as in English when people use “to be gone”
or “to no longer be here” instead of saying “to die”
Ok now, Let’s see some example sentences:
The final one is 黃色.
黃色 means “yellow”
and it can be used to talk about things related to eroticism.
For example, “dirty joke” in Chinese is “黃色笑話”.
And if you want to describe something or someone
as sexual and inappropriate,
you can use “黃” to describe. For instance:
OK, that’s it for today!
希望你喜歡今天的影片！(I hope you liked today’s video!)
and if you think of some common euphemisms in your own language
or even some that are similar to those in Chinese,
feel free to share them in the comments section!
Btw if you want to learn some daily expressions in Mandarin,
check out my Instagram: @GraceMandarin
And don’t forget to like and subscribe to my channel!
Alright, 那我們下次見囉！掰掰！(I’ll see you next time! Bye!)