Euphemisms and taboos

Taboos and euphemisms have always been of great interest as they act as one of the important factors influencing the process of enriching and enlarging word-stock and speech itself. The system of ethnographic taboo including language taboo originally developed on the basis of religious beliefs. However, taboo words are not just the words which are not widely-used because of certain religious beliefs, these are the words which appeared due to some social reasons like politeness, delicacy and eagerness to keep preserve appearances. Taboo words in linguistic meaning are the words which are banned because of mythological beliefs, superstitions, prejudice and to avoid rude or curse words and phrases. As for euphemisms they are the results of language taboos. A euphemism is a generally innocuous word or phrase that replaces an offensive one.