Swearing

Swearing originally meant making an oath[?], and this usage is still used today in official and legal contexts. A court witness will have to swear to tell the truth etc. Very often this swearing is by God, or things considered holy[?].

Use of this type of swearing in inappropriate or trivial circumstances ("taking The Name in vain") was considered wrong and sinful. The use of the term swearing in common speech came to represent this usage. Many current "swear" words originate from this usage:

By my lady (the Virgin Mary) that was a good meal

became

That was B'lady a good meal

and eventually

That was a bloody good meal

Similarly

God Blind me, that was nothing to do with me

became

cor blimey, , that was nothing to do with me

In later years (Can someone give an idea of dates here. I know that sexual words and words connected with bodily functions were used openly in medieval times, but by Victorian times were totally unacceptable.), words connected with bodily functions (shit, piss, fart, etc.) and sexual words (fuck, cunt, etc.) which had previously been acceptable, became unacceptable in polite speech. The term "swearing" came to include these. With the reduction of the importance of religion, the use of swearing by holy things has reduced, and the latter use increased. Thus, in medieval times, "that meal tasted like shit!" would have been considered merely impolite, but "damn and blast the cook, that was a terrible meal" would have been shocking and even sinful, today the opposite is true.

(I believe words of Anglo-Saxon origin are more likely to be swear words than ones of French origin. Can anyone expand?) (And indeed Latin. It's broader than that, not just swearing - there is a whole "respectability" thing, medical terms etc ... hearty vs cordial or cardiac, cancer vs oncology. Someone needs to get refs from that excellent Bill Bryson book.)

Swearing in Other Languages and Cultures

(The above refers to development of swearing in English. What about other languages/cultures. Are different things considered swearing?)

Psychology of Swearing

(This is a stub for someone who knows about it to verify and complete.) Unlike most forms of speech, swearing is often involuntary at times of stress. Someone may shout "shit" when they hit their thumb with a hammer before they even realise it. It is believed (how commonly?, can't remember where I read this) that swear words become wired into the brain as "distress" calls, just as some birds pick up the calls of other species. This has an obvious evolutionary advantage; if someone on watch is grabbed from behind they may well shout a "distress" word before being silenced, whereas they might not have time to "think" of a normal spoken warning. Evidence for this comes from cases where some people who lose the power of speech through strokes, but still swear under stress. (This is also somehow connected with Tourette syndrome, but I can't remember how!).

Common swear words in contemporary american English include George Carlin's infamous list of Seven Words You Can't Use On Television[?]: Shit, Piss[?], Fuck, Cunt, Cocksucker[?], Motherfucker and Tits.

External Links

• Review of Emotions, Taboos and Profane Language by Zsuzsanna Ard (http://accurapid.com/journal/16review.htm)

Common misspelling and questions (FAQ)

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