A Comparative Study of English and Chinese Euphemisms—Taking Desperate Housewives and Ode to Joy as Examples

As the lubricant of interpersonal relationships, euphemisms are not only a linguistic phenomenon, but also a social and cultural phenomenon. At the same time, media language is also used as an important and necessary tool for communicating cultural information and ideas. Film and television productions, as cultural carriers, represent people’s lifestyles, social conventions, values, and other features in a country or region. In this article, we examine “Desperate Housewives” and “Ode to Joy” as examples of euphemisms in Chinese and English. The two dramas are comparable from the standpoint of euphemism. To investigate variations indicated by diverse cultural value orientations, euphemism uses them. The goal is to illustrate the national features and cultural implications of Chinese and Western countries, as well as to better comprehend the language styles of Chinese and Western TV dramas. Lay the groundwork for cross-cultural communication by learning about the various cultural values that underpin the language.