The Dutch and German words from whence shit came share the same meaning as the English word that is, they all essentially mean "poop" or "to poop." They don't mean "to defecate," as that word is a bit too classy and non-vulgar to really reflect the meaning of shit. Origin: Old English scitte ("diorrhoea"), of Germanic origin related to Dutch schijten, German scheissen (verb). The main definitions provided for each word have been taken from the Oxford Dictionary of English. No dashes, stars, or hashtags will be included to shield your delicate eyes, but considering it's all in the name of learning, it's okay! (Fun fact for you: Did you know that the combination of various symbols to represent an obscenity-like this: called a grawlix?) I promise not to curse at you or offend, but I will be introducing the following seven words using- gasp!-their actual spelling. Curse like a Sailor, Study like a ScholarĪre you ready for your most risqué English lesson ever? To finish, I'll teach you the best way to use swearing in your own writing. After that, the real fun will begin, when we examine how swear words fit linguistically into the English language. Today we'll look at the origins and etymology of your favorite curse words, and we'll keep the history lesson going next week by examining the role swearing has historically played in written work. We'll start where one should always start: at the beginning, of course. I invite you to join me now and over the next month as I explore the history, nature, and future of swearing in both writing and speech. That, dear reader, is the story of how this exploration of the grammar of swearing began. As the first fff- sound slipped from my lips, I found myself stopping to ponder: Is what I am about to say grammatically correct? I was just about to fly into a cuss-filled rage at him when it happened. As two young language buffs, we both tend to take advantage of all the words available in a fight, even those that might not be so acceptable in what some call "polite company." We've both been known to use what can only be described as inventive curses in the past-especially when discussing controversial matters of punctuation. (It's rare, but it does happen.) Anyway, this companion of mine happens to take his grammar pedantry pretty seriously, so I'm always on my grammatical guard around him lest he correct me for an accidental slip up.īecause we were fighting over the use of the serial comma (what else?), things got pretty heated between us. I was in a fight with a fellow introvert the other day. Potty-mouthed grammar nerds of the world, unite. Part 1 in Our Series on the Grammar of Swearing
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