Euphemism as a core feature of patientese: A comparative study between English and French
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Pascaline Faure
Pascaline Faure has a PhD in medical English, for which she completed three years in medicine. She is an assistant professor in English for medicine and has been Director of the Medical English Department of Pierre and Marie Curie School of Medicine for 14 years. Her major works examine the nature of medical language (etymology, neologism, abbreviations and discourse) and the impact of English on other European medical languages.
Abstract
The purpose of this lexicological study is to present a typology of patients’ euphemizing lay denominations of medical terms illustrated by examples in English and French. Various textbooks and lexicons dealing with English and French for medical purposes served as corpora. The euphemisms were classified according to the three semantic processes by means of which they were created: widening (Eng. down below for “genitals” and Fr. poitrine [lit. ‘chest’] for “breast”), reduction (Eng. miss* for “miscarriage” and Fr. MST [lit. ‘STD’] for “sexually-transmitted disease”), and analogy (Eng. engine for “heart” and Fr. tuyauterie [lit. ‘pipes’] for “urinary system”). Underlying these semantic processes, the same structural metaphors in both languages were identified: vaguer is better (widening), less of form is less of content (reduction), and the body is a machine/organs are containers (analogy). The examples show that these categories are not fully exclusive. Because lay terms used by patients during interview are a source of major misunderstandings on the part of healthcare professionals who are not native speakers of their patients’ language, pedagogical guidelines are provided so as to encourage Language for Medical Purposes (LMP) teachers to incorporate the study of patientese into their course. In my conclusion, I offer two hypotheses that both need further exploration: the probable evolution of patients’ terminology towards enhanced technicality under the influence of both medical TV series and the Internet, and consequently, the plausible use of technical terms as new euphemisms.
About the author
Pascaline Faure has a PhD in medical English, for which she completed three years in medicine. She is an assistant professor in English for medicine and has been Director of the Medical English Department of Pierre and Marie Curie School of Medicine for 14 years. Her major works examine the nature of medical language (etymology, neologism, abbreviations and discourse) and the impact of English on other European medical languages.
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Appendix
| Type of metaphors | Signified | English | French |
| Vaguer is better | the female genitals | down below/down there | en bas |
| the male genitals | the parts | les parties | |
| the privates | l’entrejambe | ||
| the groin | |||
| the crotch | |||
| the loins | |||
| the vagina | the front passage | devant | |
| up inside | |||
| the anus | the back passage | ||
| the buttocks | the bottom | (le) derrière | |
| the behind | |||
| the rear | |||
| the backside | |||
| the breasts | the top part | la poitrine | |
| bust | le buste | ||
| bosom | |||
| urine | water | ||
| the amniotic liquid | waters | les eaux | |
| the intestines | the innards/inside | les entrailles | |
| menstruation | thingies | les trucs | |
| the thing the other | les histoires les affaires | ||
| women’s troubles | |||
| the menopause | the change | le retour d’âge | |
| gonorrh(o)ea and syphilis | a double event/a full house | ||
| gonorrh(o)ea | a dose | ||
| AIDS | the complete package | ||
| Less of form is less of content | miscarriage | a miss | une IVG |
| menopause | the big M | ||
| total hysterectomy | total hys | la totale | |
| menstruation | AF | ||
| cancer | the big C | ||
| venereal disease | an STD | une MST | |
| chlamydia | chlam/ the c(h)lam | ||
| herpes | herp | ||
| syphilis | syph | ||
| blennorrhagia | blenno | ||
| the contraceptive pill | the pill | la pilule | |
| sanitary towels | STs | ||
| The body is a machine | the heart | the engine the ticker | le palpitant le battant |
| the urinary system | plumbing/waterworks | la tuyauterie | |
| defecate | open one’s bowels/have one’s bowels opened | ||
| Our systems are tubes | the lungs | the tubes | |
| the uterine tubes | the tubes | ||
| the trachea | the windpipe | le tuyau | |
| the vagina | the birth canal | ||
| the urethra | the pipe | ||
| the (o)esophagus | the food pipe the gullet | le gosier | |
| incontinence | urinary leakage | des fuites urinaires | |
| rhinitis | a runny/running nose | le nez qui coule | |
| Organs are containers | the larynx | the voice box | |
| the lungs | the bellows | ||
| the abdomen | the belly | le bidon | |
| la bedaine | |||
| le buffet | |||
| the scrotum | the bag | le paquet | |
| the sac | |||
| the package | |||
| the alveolus | the air sac | ||
| the head | the brain box | le caisson | |
| the thorax | the chest | le coffre | |
| the barrel | la caisse | ||
| le baquet |
©2016 by De Gruyter Mouton
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Teaching medical discourse in higher education: An introduction
- Handing over and letting go: using online continuing medical education in teaching and assessing medical English language and communication skills to undergraduates
- Thinking creatively: Introducing new didactic methods into a course in English for Laboratory Technicians
- Language functions and medical communication: The human body as text
- iPads in medical language courses at the University of Helsinki
- On the importance of a genre-based approach in the teaching of English for Medical Purposes
- Medical ethics and the learner-centred approach: Developing materials on organ transplant and euthanasia in an English as a foreign language classroom in higher education
- Learning terminology in order to become an active agent in the development of Basque biomedical registers
- Euphemism as a core feature of patientese: A comparative study between English and French
- Metaphors in the mirror: The influence of teaching metaphors in a medical education programme
- Putting the plain into pain language in English for Medical Purposes: Learner inquiry into patients’ online descriptive accounts
- “It is natural for you to be afraid…”: On the discourse of web-based communication with patients
- International medical graduates and the discursive patterns of patient-centred communication
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Teaching medical discourse in higher education: An introduction
- Handing over and letting go: using online continuing medical education in teaching and assessing medical English language and communication skills to undergraduates
- Thinking creatively: Introducing new didactic methods into a course in English for Laboratory Technicians
- Language functions and medical communication: The human body as text
- iPads in medical language courses at the University of Helsinki
- On the importance of a genre-based approach in the teaching of English for Medical Purposes
- Medical ethics and the learner-centred approach: Developing materials on organ transplant and euthanasia in an English as a foreign language classroom in higher education
- Learning terminology in order to become an active agent in the development of Basque biomedical registers
- Euphemism as a core feature of patientese: A comparative study between English and French
- Metaphors in the mirror: The influence of teaching metaphors in a medical education programme
- Putting the plain into pain language in English for Medical Purposes: Learner inquiry into patients’ online descriptive accounts
- “It is natural for you to be afraid…”: On the discourse of web-based communication with patients
- International medical graduates and the discursive patterns of patient-centred communication
