I’m doing an essay on the nature of vulgarity in language, and am writing about my observations on how some curse words drop out of our languages, becomes less offensive as they’re obsorbed and exploited by rap music and other entertainmnet, it’s effect on people, and how our nation’s vulgarity compares to the vulagarity of other nation’s. So I’m interested in every curse word you know of, it’s history, it’s orgins, how it’s stood the test of time, the risk a person takes in using it, and anything you can think of. If you feel like cursing me out in the process, have fun. That will help me and make you feel better, so go wild .
What the blazes is this doing in the Pit?
Hmm
Asking for help with homework
Soliciting the posting of various and sundry curse words
Inviting posters to call you said various and sundry curse words.
I wonder if the OP will end up here
Okay, just for the fun of it, here’s a list of all the “dirty” words expurgated from the Scrabble dictionary when some old lady got upset at them: http://www.scrabblejunction.org/Lists/deleted.txt
I doubt that even the most profane among us could define all of them. Nitchie? Abo? Shkotzim? Boche?
The OP is asking for curses and vulgarity, this is the place.
“Poopyhead” has lost a lot of punch over the years.
“Boche” is an WWI-era anti-German slur.
Agreed.
And I am asking for help with homework, but it’s a topic that interests me. The assigment was to write an expository essay on anything you wanted to, and this was something I’ve had on my mind for a while. Why are there curses in some cultures that are so offensive as to instigate other to killing you, but not in others? Do other people respect their curses more? This topic would have been created sooner or later regardless of my homework assignments. This is a place for fighting ignorance, so I felt it was a valid topic.
Also, I’m asking for curse words so I can learn about them, I’m not trolling. The bit about wanting people to call me names was a joke. I’m not trying to make anyone angry here, so I don’t think I’m breaking any rules.
A friend of mone who has/had been living in Germany for a few years told me that in Germany calling someone a “silly goose” is a terrible insult. I don’t know why. But calling a woman a female dog is pretty insulting in English, for some reason.
Just in the interests of fighting ignorance abo is a contraction of Aborigine. Not originally offenisive but it is now.
If you have the time, I highly recommend that you read Richard Dooling’s Blue Streak: Swearing, Free Speech, and Sexual Harassment.
If you don’t have the time, read it anyway: it’s pretty interesting.
The Pit is the logical place to put something about technicolor cussing, JoeSki, so no problem there.
I’ve mulled over this thread for a bit but I think it falls on the wrong side of doing your homework. While it might be useful to get feedback from other people, your essay is about your impressions. The rest of it–history, origins, changes over time, etc.–is standard research you should be doing yourself.
No harm and no foul on this one because it is a bit of an interpretation issue. FWIW, it’s a good idea to run this kind of idea past a mod beforehand.
Locked.
TVeblen
Pit mod