why it is categori
D
ed as indirection type of euphemism is because there is a more direct way to talk about it, like: ‘impotency’ or
‘Peyronie’s disease’. However, talking about a disease directly can possibly hurt people who have it, that is why indirection is used to
avoid hurting other people’s feeling.
13. High-functioning sociopath Episode 02
D: “So, what exactly are my duties as an usher?” S: “Lets talk about Mary first.”
D: “Sorry, what?” S: “Well, I think you know what. You went out with her for two
years.” D: “Er, ages ago. Were... Were just good friends now.”
S: “Is that a fact? Whenever she tweets, you respond within five minutes, regardless of time or current location, suggesting you have her
on text alert. In your Facebook photographs of the happy couple, Mary takes centre frame, whereas John is always partly or entirely excluded.
D: “Well, you cant assume from that Ive still got some kind of interest in Mary…”
S: “You volunteered to be a shoulder to cry on, on no less than three separate occasions. Do you have anything to say in your defense? I
think from now on, well downgrade you to casual acquaintance. No more than three planned social encounters a year and always in Johns
presence. I have your contact details. I will be monitoring.”
D: “Theyre right about you. Youre a bloody psychopath.”
S: “High-functioning sociopath, with your number. Smirk
a. Context 1 Characters
: Sherlock S and David D 2 Setting
: in Sherlock’s room 3 Context of situation: Sherlock is talking to Mary’s ex
boyfriend, David. From what he deduced, Sherlock knows that David still has feeling for Mary, and wants to make it
clear that David will never try anything to get close to Mary
anymore because she is going to marry John.
b. Euphemism and Meaning High-functioning sociopath is euphemism for ‘psychopath’. The
type of this euphemism is circumlocution. The phrase ‘high-
functioning sociopath has more letters 15, more syllables 8, and more words 2 compared to ‘psychopath’ which only has 10 letters,
3 syllables, and 1 word. As Rawson said, “the longer the euphemism the better”
7
. Therefore, it makes high-functioning sociopath is more polite than ‘psychopath’ despite the differences between them are not
big.
The type of meaning of this euphemism is affective meaning
because when David says that Sherlock is a psychopath, Sherlock
7
Hugh Rawson, op.cit., 1981, p. 10
