21. Taboo words and the issue of political correctness
In every lng there seem to be certain unmentionables. Due to the fact that these words possess a strong effective connotation they cannot be used in polite speech. In English they do not mention words related to sex, extinction, anatomy. The behavior laws prohibit the translator to use taboo words. In the 19th century it was inelegant to speak of going to bed (they said “to retire”). Sometimes words & expressions degrade in meaning. If you translate the book, belonging to the 19th century you should understand that “to make love” in those times meant “to court”. Sometimes it’s necessary to discuss some shocking matters (AID). In such cases vague explanations full of euphemisms cannot be used. There are such themes as death, money, age, which are not to be discussed.
Nowadays in England taboo topics are: 1) money; 2) death (die = pass away, go west); 3) things which we don’t mention traditionally (God = gosh); 4) social characteristics of certain people (alcoholic = alcohol abuser; imbecile = mentally-weak – слабоумный )
In every language there seem to be certain unmentionables – the words that have such a strong affective connotation that can’t be used in polite situations. Words dealing with excretion and sex (e.g.: restroom, powder-room etc.) We use euphemisms (we don’t use toilet, we use ladies’ room. People used to use Water Closet -> Lounge -> Restroom. It always changes). Words referring to anatomy and sex used to have a very strong affective connotation. (We don’t use the word breast. People used not to use it even when meaning chicken meat. People started to use white meat, black meat or dark meat. But they never used breast or legs. Nowadays people are not so scrupulous). When ppl spoke about love they had to be careful in choosing words. Now ppl use vulgar expressions for that. If the text is about ppl without manners the translation will be different from that about ppl who belong to polite society. Verbal taboos may produce serious problems to a translator. There are cases when euphemisms are out of place. For example, we can speak freely about money in Russia – this is not acceptable in the US or the UK. It’s bad taste to enquire into ppls financial affairs. People use “gosh” for “God”, “Lord” as a substitute for “Jesus”. “What the dickens” “old nick” – euphemisms for bad/evil forces. 
Loaded words are words that combine affective and informative connotations.
Religion, races, nations, political groups are other taboo issues.
“pick-pocket’ – вор-карманник. they use “criminal” instead of pick-pocket etc.
When we can’t find euphemisms for all those notions we use definitions.
for example, “Mexican” possessed a negative connotation, ppl tried to use euphemisms such as “latino”, “Hispanic”.
In southern states the word “nigger” was used as an offensive one. The substitution was “negro” -> “black” -> “africo-american” -> “African-american”.
A translation should not be prejudiced in any way.
A „bum“ had negative connotation , now they use “displaced person” or “homeless person”.
You can’t use “man” to denote human being. In modern documents they write s/he.
Sometimes political correctness is important when we talk about people who are sick, who during some time acquired bad habits. You can not use “drunk” or “drunkard”. We used a euphemism “alcoholic”, then it came to get a negative connotation. Now we use “alcohol abuser”. We used to say “drug addict” – now we say “drug abuser”.