Euphemisms in Current Spanish-English Dictionaries

Euphemism, with its different communicative functions, has always been present in language as a lexical strategy to soften or conceal words which are collectively seen as coarse or that can be offensive for certain social groups. This paper aims at analysing how the euphemistic use of certain words is represented in two paradigmatic present-day Spanish-English dictionaries. We will look at how they label the words used to neutralise as much as possible the meaning of terms which are considered taboo, unpleasant, inadequate or not politically correct. On the other hand, a comparative study will be done to identify the differences and similarities in the way they codify this type of usage information.