Communication failures, such as feelings of offense or embarrassment, often occur in conversation. It can be said to be successful when the two parties involved can understand and respond to what the other person is saying. People will consciously refine words that are considered taboo. Refinement of words or sentences can be called euphemistic expressions. They are used as an alternative to expressions of disapproval to avoid the potential loss of face to an audience or third party through insults (Allan & Burridge, 1991). This study aims to explore the types, functions, and distributions of euphemistic expressions in a movie series Wednesday (2022). The approach to this study used a sociolinguistics approach. This study focused on how language and society are connected. This study was conducted to be a descriptive-qualitative study with a single embedded case study which arranges four major stages, namely domain analysis, taxonomy analysis, componential analysis, and cultural theme analysis.
The results of this study indicate that the types of euphemistic expressions are figurative expression, metaphor, flippancy, remodeling, circumlocution, clipping, abbreviation, hyperbole, technical jargon, and colloquial. These include 10 out of 16 types of euphemisms based on the theory of Allan and Burridge (1991). In addition, the functions of euphemistic expressions found are the protective euphemism, the underhand euphemism, the uplifting euphemism, the provocative euphemism, the cohesive euphemism, and the ludic euphemism. It includes 6 out of 6 functions of euphemisms based on the theory of Burridge (2012). The distribution of euphemistic expressions is different for each episode. From all the types and functions, the colloquial type and the underhand euphemism function dominate all the data found in the Wednesday movie series.