The Dominant Synonym

The attentive reader will have noticed that in the previous chapter much use was made of the numerous synonyms of the verb to look, and yet, the verb to look itself was never mentioned. That doesn't seem fair be­cause it is, certainly, a verb which possesses the highest frequency of use compared with its synonyms, and so plays an important role in communication. Its role and position in relation to its synonyms is also of some im­portance as it presents a kind of centre of the group of synonyms, as it were, holding it together.

Its semantic structure is quite simple: it consists only of denotative component and it has no connota­tions.

All (or, at least, most) synonymic groups have a "central" word of this kind whose meaning is equal to the denotation common to all the synonymic group. This word is called the dominant synonym.

Here are examples of other dominant synonyms with their groups:

To surprise — to astonish — to amaze — to as­tound.

To shout — to yell — to bellow — to roar.

To shine — to flash — to blaze — to gleam — to glisten — to sparkle — ro glitter — to shimmer — to glimmer.

To tremble — to shiver — to shudder — to shake. To make — to produce — to create — to fabricate — ro manufacture.

Angry — furious — enraged. Fear — terror — horror.

The dominant synonym expresses the notion com­mon to all synonyms of the group in the most general way, without contributing any additional information as to the manner, intensity, duration or any attending feature of the referent. So, any dominant synonym is a typical basic-vocabulary word (see Ch. 2). Its meaning, which is broad and generalized, more or less "covers" the meanings of the rest of the synonyms, so that it may be substituted for any of them. It seems that here, at last, the idea of interchangeability of synonyms comes into its own. And yet, each such substitution would mean an irreparable loss of the additional information supplied by connotative components of each synonym. So, using to look instead of to glare, to stare, to peep, to peer we preserve the general sense of the utterance but lose a great deal in precision, expressiveness and co­lour.

Summing up what has been said, the following char­acteristic features of the dominant synonym can be un­derlined:

I. High frequency of usage.

II. Broad combinability, i. e. ability to be used in combinations with various classes of words.

3. Broad general meaning.

4. Lack of connotations. (This goes for stylistic con­notations as well, so that neutrality as to style is also a typical feature of the dominant synonym.)

Euphemisms

There are words in every language which people in­stinctively avoid because they are considered indecent, indelicate, rude, too direct or impolite. As the "offen­sive" referents, for which these words stand, must still be alluded to, they are often described in a round-about way, by using substitutes called euphemisms. This de­vice is dictated by social conventions which are some­times apt to be over-sensitive, see "indecency" where there is none and seek refinement in absurd avoidances and pretentiousness.

The word lavatory has, naturally, produced many euphemisms. Here are some of them: powder room, _washroom, restroom, retiring room, (public) comfort station, ladies' (room), gentlemen's (room), water-clos­et, w. c. ([d\bJju:'si:]), public conveniences and even Windsor castle (which is a comical phrase for "decipher­ing" w. c).

Pregnancy is another topic for "delicate" references. Here are some of the euphemisms used as substitutes for the adjective pregnant: in an interesting condition, in a delicate condition, in the family way, with a baby coming, (big) with child, expecting.

The apparently innocent word trousers, not so long ago, had a great number of euphemistic equivalents, some of them quite funny: unmentionables, inexpressi­bles, indescribables, unwhisperables, you-mustn't-men-tion 'ems, sit-upons. Nowadays, however, nobody seems to regard this word as "indecent" any more, and so its euphemistic substitutes are no longer in use.

A landlady who refers to her lodgers as paying guests is also using a euphemism, aiming at half-con­cealing the embarrassing fact that she lets rooms.

The love of affectation, which displays itself in the excessive use of euphemisms, has never been a sign of good taste or genuine refinement. Quite the opposite. Fiction writers have often ridiculed pretentious people for their weak attempts to express themselves in a del­icate and refined way.

"... Mrs. Sunbury never went to bed, she retired, but Mr. Sunbury who was not quite so refined as his wife always said: "Me for Bedford" ..."

(From The Kite by W. S. Maugham)

To retire in this ironical passage is a euphemistic substitute for to go to bed.

Another lady, in Rain by the same author, easily sur­passes Mrs. Sunbury in the delicacy of her speech. She says that there are so many mosquitoes on the island where the story is set that at the Governor's parties "all the ladies are given a pillow-slip to put their — their lower extremities in."

The speaker considers the word legs to be "indeli­cate" and substitutes for it its formal synonym lower extremities (cf. with the R. нижние конечности). The substitution makes her speech pretentious and ridicu­lous.

Eating is also regarded as unrefined by some minds. Hence such substitutes as to partake of food (of refresh­ment), to refresh oneself, to break bread.

There are words which are easy targets for euphe­mistic substitution. These include words associated with drunkenness, which are very numerous.

The adjective drunk, for instance, has a great num­ber of such substitutes, some of them "delicate", but most comical. E. g. intoxicated (form.), under the in­fluence (form.), tipsy, mellow, fresh, high, merry, flus­tered, overcome, full (coll.), drunk as a lord (coll.), drunk as an owl (coll.), boiled (si.), fried (si.), tanked (si.), tight (si,), stiff (si.), pickled (si.), soaked (si.), three sheets to the wind (si.), high as a kite (si.), half-seas-over (si.), etc.

The following brief quotation from P. G. Wodehouse gives two more examples of words belonging to the same group:

"Motty was under the surface. Completely soz­zled."

(From Right-Ho, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse)