Definition:
Substitution of a more offensive or disparaging word or phrase for one considered less offensive. The opposite of euphemism.
Etymology:
From the Greek, "a non word"Examples and Observations:
- When applied to people, animal names are usually dysphemisms: coot, old bat, pig, chicken, snake, and bitch, for example.
- "A cruel or offensive dysphemism is a cacophemism (from Greek kakos bad), such as using 'it' for a person: Is it coming again tonight?"
(Tom McArthur, The Oxford Companion to the English Language, 1992) - cripple to refer to a person with physical disabilities
- "When we think of euphemisms, we think of words that are substituted because their connotations are less distressing than the words they replace. In slang you frequently have the opposite phenomenon, dysphemism, where a relatively neutral word is replaced with a harsher, more offensive one. Such as calling a cemetery a 'boneyard.' Referring to electrocution as 'taking the hot seat' would be another, I suppose. . . . Even more dysphemistic would be 'to fry.'"
(An Interview With J. E. Lighter by Hugh Rawson, American Heritage, October 2003) - "A jocular approach to death is only dysphemistic if the Hearer can be expected to regard it as offensive. For instance, if a doctor were to inform close family that their loved one has pegged out during the night, it would normally be inappropriate, insensitive, and unprofessional (i.e., dysphemistic). Yet given another context with quite a different set of interlocutors, the same expression could just as well be described as cheerfully euphemistic."
(Keith Allan and Kate Burridge, Euphemism and Dysphemism: Language Used as a Shield and Weapon, Oxford University Press, 1991)
Pronunciation: DIS-fuh-miz-im
