And then some. Even when correctly used it carries an odor no less than “niggardly,” “nippy breeze,” etc., and is even funnier because not only is there human sensitivity but pseudo-human, anthropomorphic sensitivity.
I had just come from the Westminster Dog Show after lunch with my dog’s breeder and friend, who had entered and was handling a bitch. Professional dog people just talking.
I went to take Buddy to the park, and forgetting to switch registers, was petting and making goo-goo sounds at a dog (generic) and asked “How old is your bitch?”
A funny look, or even a taken-aback look, I could see. The owner was positively insulted and huffed off.
Didn’t the French word baiser become dirty only recently? Nowadays it connotes “fuck”, but 50 years ago it just meant “kiss” and was used in song lyrics as such.
That’s nothing compared to Chaucer, and “Gropecunt” (and variations thereof) was a common street name before the 16th century. The trade plied in those streets was pretty much exactly what you’d expect.
Your guess is as good as mine. Unless I missed a meeting, soppy means exactly the same thing in the U.S. as in the U.K.
One thing I found interesting was swearing in the 1800s. PBS’s “History Detectives” had an episode on a death threat letter Junius Brutus Booth, father of John Wilkes Booth, wrote to then President Andrew Jackson while drunk. Apparently, the elder Booth was an angry drunk, so you think it would be full of profanities. No, the strongest words Booth uses is “You damned old scoundrel.” I guess that was considered extremely harsh back then.
From a behavioral standpoint, a word becomes cursing when it elicits a particular negative reaction from listeners on a regular basis. Specifically, every time a child says a word and someone around him or her gets angry, upset, shocked, or offended, that reinforces the idea that that particular word has a type of power. So when the child wants to upset or offend someone, they invoke that word. However, there’s also a strong modeling component - if Dad shouts “Dammit” when he hurts himself or is angry, the kid is going to do the same.
Euphemisms have the modeling component and are often used to redirect the child’s verbal patterns to less offensive words. Thus euphemisms have the modeling component, but not the invocation of a particular reaction in the audience. This is where I disagree with dorsk188 - there is a big difference between dad-blasted and God-dammit simply because more people would be upset with latter (I personally don’t think God cares*) and that makes a big difference in the emotional weight that the words have.
I suspect the feedback loop of getting a particular emotional reaction is also why it’s common in Tourette’s syndrome - perhaps the brain is mis-firing in the region that would normally control whether a person would choose to invoke or not invoke negative responses.
When I first read about the different types of cursing in different cultures, there were considered to be three general types:
Religious, such as using a deity’s name cavalierly
Bodily functions such as piss and shit. It’s worth pointing out that “vulgar” used to just mean “lower class”, and that “vulgar language” didn’t just mean referring to bodily functions; it also included using lower class terms for otherwise respectable things.
Insulting family - this is almost non-existant in English - the only ones I can think of are “mother-fucker”, “Yo mama” and some old insults like “your mama wears army boots”
I would say that we’ve added one more in that what are deragatory words for different groups are also starting to acquire a veneer of cursing. For instance, the use of the “n-word” in rap is because it bothers people.
Personally, I think God is more likely to be offended by the people that proclaim their faith in order to push their business.
I guess I’ll never understand these “words”. So many think there are “bad” words and there are “good” words… How is this so? I can turn any word bad… Your a piece of cheese!! See I just made Cheese a bad word… Your cheesy… Is this really bad? its just a word. People don’t like others saying Shit… why not? I have to use a different word which will mean the same thing?? Gotta go shit! or Gotta go Crap! or gotta go poop! What’s the difference?? you can use each word in the same way and they have the same Definition!!! So how is one bad and the other not?? That’s because THERE NOT BAD!!! It’s just a word. Some don’t like damn, you have to say dang… I can use it in the same way both words have the same meaning in every way so how is one bad and the other not? Humans made the bad words bad by saying I don’t like the way it sounds… how about this… I don’t like how some people sound… does that make them bad? NO! Humans need to learn to let it go already! You cant say Hell but you can say Heck… Cant say Fuck but you can say Fudge or Frick… Cant say ass, but you can say butt or bottom… Its just nonsense… This isn’t for one person this is for everyone… I remember being around family and them saying watch your mouth… ok, ill watch it, give me a mirror. My point here is, a word should only be bad in the way you use the word… For example if you say, I have to go take a shit. that should be fine… but not your a piece of shit! I Used this word in a good way and a bad way…Some say words will just be words and that’s what I believe. I think the true bad words are Slut, skank, Whore, Bitch (unless talking about a female dog) words like this are bad. because there are no other way to use them beside using in a bad (negative) way.
Calling someone a motherfucker (or muttha) is peculiarly American. To British ears it sounds like a serious insult - You have sex with your mother…
Fanny always causes amusement or shock over here. While it is not a seriously rude word, some ladies are a little shocked when an American says that she was wearing a fanny pack. (it sounds as if they mean she’s wearing a sanitary towel).
Kids will always take ordinary words like spastic and use them as insults - spazz - even ‘special needs’ has become a derogatory term. The latest is, unsurprisingly, pedo.
I’ve read several examples regarding the word ‘bitch’, referencing the standard usage describing a female dog as well as the insulting usage applied to a woman. But there is a third usage: “My dad was bitching about the electric bill again.”
I remember getting scolded in junior high for saying someone was bitching about something. I heard the word used like that at home all the time, and though little about using it at school. The teacher thought otherwise (years later I learned he was quite religious). Now, I can guess that “bitching” is related to the unsavory use of “bitch” as applied to a woman, but certainly men can bitch about something as readily as women. Perhaps there is yet a third etymological trail for “bitch” as a verb.
From it’s spiritual usage, I believe the origin of a curse is to involve spiritual powers to make it so. ‘God Dam you’ is directly such a curse - invoking God/god/gods/etc. to do just that, F— you also, as it is in the ideal of getting something shoved up inside you in a violent manner, and usually not to be taken in a fun ‘hope you get laid’ way.
Additionally other curse words goes to the identity of a person, calling someone a bitch or c— for example is the curse to establish they identity as such.
The swear itself would be the invocation of such a curse. Swear words are the words spoken to invoke the curse.
Part of what set of words becomes swear words would need to convey the meaning of they curse. As word usage changes, old words fall outside this and new words come into usage.