# archaic profanities?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-profanities/723196>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 22, 2015, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-profanities/723196 "2015-06-22T23:32:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![doonesbury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@doonesbury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doonesbury)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-profanities/723196/1 "2015-06-22T23:32:58Z")

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Are there any archaic English words that are equivalent to the “seven dirty words” that George Carlin spoke of? By equivalent, I don’t necessarily mean synonyms. Rather, words that weren’t to be used in polite or everyday company.

I’m looking for words that very few people would recognize today, so no “crikey,” “bloody.”, “blimey,” “bollocks,” etc.

If anyone knows of any such words, please provide a definition or modern synonym along with the word.

D

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**Author:** ![Baffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dec6dc/32.png) [@Baffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baffle)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-profanities/723196/2 "2015-06-23T00:02:35Z")

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You can start with [zounds](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/zounds) and click the links to explore from there.

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**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-profanities/723196/3 "2015-06-23T00:11:25Z")

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I think they used to say “_Damn your eyes_” a lot. And back then damning someone was some pretty serious shit.