WORDS

THE RULES OF SWEARING

FAYE FLAM, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER - Several weeks ago Inquirer editors
debated whether we should allow more dirty words in the paper. There was
talk of loosening the restrictions on damn, which we've long placed in
our category of lesser offenders though it implies something horrendous
- condemnation to hell (a word we're also easing up on).

Topping our list of the worst possible words is the F-word, though in
its literal sense it conveys something very nice. Writers are not
specifically forbidden to use it but there are enough hoops to jump
through that nobody has broken the F- barrier yet.

It's listed in our highest security class of obscenity, along with three
synonyms for penis, two for vagina, two slang terms for oral sex, two
variants on animal waste products and one expression that employs the
F-word in an oedipal context.

What does this say about our society, and is there any scientific
explanation for why people yell out a word for sex when they stub their
toes?

Linguists tend to speak not of bad words but of linguistic taboos. Most
cultures have such taboos, but they vary wildly, says University of
Pennsylvania linguist Mark Liberman. . .

Some cultures create elaborate rules about mixing sex and speech, he
says. In parts of New Guinea, you're not allowed to have sex with anyone
who shares your primary language. Luckily, people there know lots of
languages, so they generally manage.

Some aboriginal Australians have a sort of incest-related taboo against
speaking with the family of your spouse. All words in their primary
language are forbidden, so they create artificial "mother-in-law
languages" to talk to their mothers-in-law.. . .

Bodily function words, while popular, are not universally taboo. In
Finnish, Liberman says, all sexual acts and sex organs can be expressed
in language clean enough for Ann Landers. You can't employ Finnish
sexual words to swear, he says, since it would come out something like
"Oh, intercourse!"

Liberman knows all kinds of fascinating bad-word facts. For example, the
earliest record of typographical bleeping of the F-word is in an English
legal document from 1698 detailing the arrest of Capt. Edward Rigby for
attempting to "F-" another man.

Overall, the scientific evidence suggests swearing is good for you, says
psycholinguist Timothy Jay of Massachusetts College of the Liberal Arts
and author of Cursing in America.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/living/health/15377368.htm

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OVERHEARD IN WASHINGTON

[From Eavesdrop DC]

Intern: Wow! We really go through a lot of paper don't we?

Staffer: Yep.

Intern: Where is the recycling bin?

Staffer: Oh, we don't recycle - we're Republican.

http://eavesdropdc.blogspot.com/