Introduction
Swear words. Profanity. Obscenities. Whatever you call them, these taboo words have been a part of human language and culture for as long as we've been communicating. But have you ever wondered about the origins of these words? Why do certain words shock and offend us, while others that once caused outrage now seem tame?
In her book "Holy Sh*t," author Melissa Mohr takes readers on a fascinating journey through the history of swearing, from ancient Rome to modern times. She explores how the words we consider offensive have changed over the centuries, reflecting shifts in societal values, religious beliefs, and cultural norms.
This eye-opening book challenges our assumptions about "bad" language and reveals surprising insights into human nature and the power of words. Let's dive into the key ideas and discoveries Mohr presents in her exploration of humanity's long love affair with profanity.
The Romans: Sex and Gender-Based Swearing
Our journey begins in ancient Rome, where the nature of swearing was quite different from what we're used to today. The Romans weren't shy about using crude language, but their idea of what was truly offensive centered around their unique views on sex and gender roles.
Active vs. Passive: The Roman Sexual Hierarchy
In Roman culture, sexuality wasn't categorized as heterosexual or homosexual. Instead, the key distinction was between being "active" (the penetrator) or "passive" (the penetrated). Masculinity was strongly associated with the active role, regardless of the gender of one's sexual partner.
Given this cultural context, the worst insult you could hurl at a Roman man was to accuse him of being passive – particularly by performing oral sex on a woman. The Latin phrase "cunnum lingere" (to perform cunnilingus) was considered extremely obscene and emasculating.
Graffiti and Insults in Pompeii
Evidence of this attitude can be found in the preserved graffiti of Pompeii. One particularly harsh piece of slander reads "Corus cunnum lingit" ("Corus licks cunt"). To modern ears, this might sound crude but not necessarily the height of obscenity. For the Romans, however, it was a devastating attack on a man's masculinity and social standing.
Another example from Roman literature further illustrates this point. An epigram mockingly suggests that a man named Zoilus, known for performing oral sex, should stick his head in a bathtub to make it dirtier than his bottom. The implication is that his mouth is filthier than his anus due to his sexual practices.
This focus on sexual roles and masculinity in Roman swearing provides a stark contrast to later periods and demonstrates how profanity is shaped by the values and beliefs of a particular culture.
The Old Testament: The Power of Oaths
As we move from ancient Rome to the world of the Old Testament, we encounter a very different type of swearing – the oath. In this context, swearing wasn't about shock value or insults, but rather about making solemn promises and guarantees.
Swearing by God
The Old Testament teaches that swearing oaths by invoking God's name was an essential part of maintaining social order and trust. When someone swore "by God," they were essentially calling upon God as a witness to their statement or promise. This divine guarantee gave weight and credibility to agreements and testimonies.
The Seriousness of Oaths
Because oaths involved God directly, they were meant to be used only for matters of great importance. Breaking an oath or swearing falsely was considered a grave sin. The logic was that false oaths forced God to be a witness to lies, which was seen as dishonoring to the divine.
Oaths as Expletives
Over time, oath-like phrases such as "by God" or "by God's hands" began to be used as intensifiers in everyday speech, similar to how we might use swear words today for emphasis. However, according to the Third Commandment, using God's name in this casual manner was considered taking it in vain – a serious offense.
This use of religious language for emphasis marks an important step in the evolution of swearing, bridging the gap between solemn oaths and the more casual profanity we're familiar with today.
The New Testament: Regulating Speech
While the Old Testament focused on the proper use of oaths, the New Testament took things a step further by attempting to regulate speech more broadly, including the use of vulgar language and even euphemisms.
Jesus on Careless Words
In the New Testament, Jesus is quoted as saying, "On the day of judgment you will have to give an account of every careless word you utter." This teaching suggests that it's not enough to simply avoid overtly obscene language – even seemingly harmless words could be problematic if they don't serve a positive purpose.
The Danger of Vulgar Talk
The apostles, particularly in writings attributed to Paul, warned against using language that could lead people to have impure thoughts or engage in sinful behavior. The Letter to the Ephesians, for example, advises Christians to avoid even mentioning sexual immorality or impurity.
The Ban on Euphemisms
Interestingly, the New Testament also discourages the use of euphemisms – a stark contrast to the Old Testament, which often employed figurative language to discuss sensitive topics. This stricter approach to speech reflects a growing concern with the power of words to influence thoughts and actions.
Medieval Times: Bodily Functions and Religious Swearing
As we enter the medieval period, we encounter a fascinating mix of openness about bodily functions and intense religious sensitivities. Many words that we consider highly offensive today were simply part of everyday language in the Middle Ages.
Casual Use of "Obscene" Words
Words like "cunt," "arse," and "bollocks" were standard terms for body parts during this time. They appeared in children's textbooks used to teach Latin, alongside phrases that modern parents might find shocking, such as "you stink" or "turd in your teeth."
Public Bodily Functions
Privacy was a luxury in medieval times, and bodily functions were not hidden away as they are today. Even as late as 1530, the scholar Erasmus felt the need to advise people that it was impolite to greet someone who was urinating or defecating – implying that such public displays were common enough to require comment.
The Power of Religious Swearing
While bodily terms were unremarkable, religious swearing carried immense weight. Phrases like "by God's bones" were considered deeply offensive when used casually. More importantly, false swearing – breaking an oath made in God's name – was seen as one of the gravest sins possible.
Oaths and the Legal System
Oaths played a crucial role in medieval society, serving as verbal contracts that underpinned political relationships and the legal system. In some cases, a person's innocence or guilt could be determined solely by finding enough people willing to swear an oath vouching for their character – a process known as compurgation.
This period illustrates how the power of certain words and phrases can shift dramatically over time, with terms we now consider vulgar being unremarkable, while religious language carried the greatest taboo.
The Renaissance: The Return of Obscenity
As Europe entered the Renaissance, several factors combined to shift the focus of swearing away from religious oaths and back toward bodily functions and sexual terms.
The Decline of Oath-Taking
The rise of Protestantism, with its emphasis on a non-corporeal God, began to erode the perceived power of oaths. Additionally, the sheer number of oaths required in daily life started to dilute their impact. As feudalism gave way to capitalism, economic incentives for honesty began to replace the religious and social pressures that oaths had provided.
The Rise of Privacy
The sixteenth century saw the introduction of the "privy" – a private space for bodily functions. This increase in physical privacy led to a corresponding increase in embarrassment about these functions. Interestingly, this embarrassment was often class-based; discussing excrement was only taboo when speaking with social equals or superiors.
The Power of Obscenity
As religious oaths lost their shock value, obscene language related to the body became more powerful. The very act of hiding bodily functions away made referring to them more taboo, giving new force to words that had once been unremarkable.
This shift marks the beginning of modern obscenity, where words related to sex and bodily functions carry the most offensive weight.
The Victorian Era: Extreme Repression and the Birth of Modern Swearing
The nineteenth century, particularly in Victorian Britain, saw a dramatic increase in linguistic prudishness that gave birth to many of our modern ideas about swearing.
The Taboo of the Body
As industrialization spread and privacy became more widely available, bodily functions became deeply shameful topics for all social classes. Even mentioning ordinary body parts could be considered a major faux pas in polite society.
Latinization and Euphemisms
To avoid using common words for bodily functions, Victorians turned to Latinized terms. "Shit" became "defecate," and "spit" became "expectorate." These more "refined" words were seen as markers of education and class.
The Extremes of Politeness
The desire to avoid any hint of impropriety led to some extreme linguistic gymnastics. The word "trousers" was considered too risqué for polite conversation because it implied the existence of legs (and what might be found above them). Even "leg" itself was too much, replaced first by "limb" and later by "lower extremity" when "limb" also became too suggestive.
The Rise of Figurative Swearing
It was during this era of extreme repression that many modern swear words came into use. Words like "bugger" and "bloody" began to be used figuratively, divorced from their literal meanings. This marks the transition from mere obscenity to true swearing – using taboo words for emphasis or emotional impact rather than literal description.
The Evolution of "Fuck"
The modern usage of "fuck" as an all-purpose intensifier also has its roots in this period. An early example from 1790 shows it being used in a way that's recognizably similar to modern usage: "I'd not give ---- for all you've read," which we might translate today as "I don't give a fuck."
The Victorian era's linguistic contortions and the resulting backlash laid the groundwork for much of our modern swearing vocabulary.
World Wars and the Normalization of Swearing
The First and Second World Wars had a profound impact on the use and perception of swear words, particularly in military contexts.
Swearing in the Trenches
During World War I, swearing became so commonplace among soldiers that it lost much of its shock value. A collection of military slang from the time reveals that "fucking" was often used simply to mean "incoming" or "threatening," as in a shell or attack.
The Diminishing Power of "Fuck"
The overuse of "fuck" in military contexts led to an interesting phenomenon: the word lost its ability to convey urgency. Soldiers reportedly responded more quickly to "Get your rifles!" than to "Get your fucking rifles!" – the swear word had become so common that it no longer added emphasis.
This wartime normalization of swearing began to erode some of the taboos that had built up during the Victorian era.
The Sexual Revolution and Changing Taboos
As we move into the latter half of the 20th century and the early 21st, we see further shifts in what's considered truly offensive.
The Mainstreaming of Sex
With the sexual revolution and the increasing availability of sexual content in media, many previously taboo topics became more openly discussed. Sex and sexual language lost much of their shock value as they became more prevalent in everyday conversation and popular culture.
Persistent Taboos
However, not all sexual terms have been fully normalized. The word "cunt," for example, remains highly offensive in most contexts, particularly in American English.
The Rise of Racial Slurs as Supreme Taboos
As sexual swearing has become more acceptable, racial slurs have emerged as perhaps the most offensive category of words in modern English. The N-word, in particular, has become so taboo that even words that sound similar can cause controversy.
The Power of Fighting Words
Racial slurs are considered "fighting words" – language so inherently offensive that it's likely to provoke a violent response. The use of such words can have serious consequences, as illustrated by the case of a district attorney in North Carolina who lost his job after being overheard using the N-word in a bar.
Unintended Offense
The power of these words is so great that even unrelated terms can cause problems due to their similarity. For example, a government official lost his job for using the word "niggardly" (meaning "frugal") in a budget discussion, despite the word having no etymological connection to the racial slur.
This shift demonstrates how the focus of linguistic taboos has moved from religious and sexual terms to words that demean or discriminate against marginalized groups.
Final Thoughts: The Ever-Changing Nature of Swearing
As we've seen throughout this journey through the history of swearing, what society considers offensive is constantly evolving. Words that shocked our ancestors might seem quaint to us today, while terms they used casually might make us blush.
This evolution reflects broader changes in society – our values, our taboos, our relationships with religion, sex, and our own bodies. Swear words serve as a linguistic fossil record, preserving traces of past beliefs and social structures even as their meanings shift.
Understanding this history can give us a new perspective on the words we use (or avoid) today. It reminds us that language is a living thing, constantly adapting to the needs and values of its speakers. What we consider profane today may be unremarkable to future generations, just as many of our everyday words might have scandalized our ancestors.
Moreover, this history highlights the incredible power of words. Whether it's an ancient Roman insult, a medieval oath, a Victorian euphemism, or a modern racial slur, certain combinations of sounds and letters have the ability to shock, offend, and even incite violence. This power comes not from the words themselves, but from the weight of meaning and emotion that society collectively assigns to them.
As we navigate our own linguistic landscape, we might do well to remember this history. It can help us understand why certain words carry the power they do, and perhaps encourage us to think more deeply about the language we use and the effects it can have.
In the end, the history of swearing is really a history of us – our fears, our values, our relationships, and our endless creativity in finding new ways to express ourselves, even when it comes to topics that make us uncomfortable. It's a reminder that even in our basest utterances, there's a wealth of cultural and historical information waiting to be uncovered.
So the next time you stub your toe and let loose with a string of profanity, remember – you're participating in a linguistic tradition that stretches back thousands of years. Your choice of words says as much about your culture and era as it does about your pain. And who knows? The swear words of the future might be ones we haven't even thought of yet.