Euphemisms Inside and Outside the University Context in the Times of the Covid-19 Pandemic: The Students’ Perspective

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to explore the phenomenon of euphemisms as perceived by Polish university students in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The article presents an overview of the major theoretical issues related to the linguistic concept of euphemisms and their use in everyday situations during the years of the pandemic. The data for this study were collected through an online questionnaire administered in December 2022. This stage of the research was preceded by a close examination of three internet blogs in terms of COVID-related euphemistic vocabulary. The discussion of the findings is intended to reveal the students’ perspective on the use of euphemisms, including the reasons for their use and the types of situations where such language forms are employed. The results are expected to shed some light on the possible impact that euphemistic language might have on student-teacher interactions. Another significant aspect addressed in this paper is the relationship between euphemisms and language creativity.