Benjamin K. Bergen

Why can people who've lost most other language abilities still cuss like a sailor? What linguistic similarities do many profane words share? How does swearing differ from language to language? This is a look at the (nearly) universal human language phenomenon of swearing or using profanity, from not only linguistically but also neurological and psychological perspectives. It was somewhat interesting and marginally fun, and there are some thought-provoking insights, but I have to admit I wasn't 100% engrossed.… (plus d'informations)

This book was fucking great! (Uh, p.s., I will be swearing in this review so don't read it if you don't want to.)

I debated putting some swears in this review under spoiler cover, because they're harsher than my usual swears, but I don't think I will because as Bergen explores near the end of the book, profane words aren't dangerous or harmful in and of themselves, and I'm mostly using them (apart from the first sentence of this review) in a utilitarian way, to talk about them. But to be clear I do love swearing. :D

Children (or people in general) swearing might make you uncomfortable, but think about it for a second, why are you uncomfortable? Social taboos have a mighty strong effect on us living here in society, but they also change and you can train yourself out of it if you swear enough. It was interesting to note my own reactions to the profane words as I saw them on the page - words like goddamn and shit and fuck barely made me bat an eye, but ethnic slurs made me feel uncomfortable just reading them. I was more ok with slurs that were potentially reclaimable by me, words like bitch and cunt, dyke, and to a lesser extent faggot. Queer doesn't feel profane to me at all because it's been so reclaimed by the community and by myself as the term I prefer for my identity. Ethnic slurs made me the most uncomfortable because none of them can be applied to me. Maybe that's a weird relationship to have with words used to hurt, but Bergen describes a study in which gay and straight people were unconsciously exposed to either the word "gay" or "faggot" and then their reaction times to sort words that are either positive or negative descriptors of gay people were measured. Straight people who were exposed to the slur instead of the neutral term were more likely to react slower to positive descriptors, while gay people exposed to the slur were more likely to react slower to the negative ones. As Bergen explains, this could be because the slur has been re-appropriated and therefore has a positive connotation for gay people, but it could also be because, in hearing a term used to denigrate them, a gay person might get defensive and think about all the ways their group is actually positive.

Anywhoo, this book is pretty delightful if you like linguistics and swearing and human nature. Bergen describes lots of studies and etymology so if you're into that sort of thing you should read it. Here's a great passage about the history of the word fuck:

"Medievalist Paul Booth recently uncovered the earliest known record of the word to date, in legal documents from 1310 identifying a man named Roger Fuckebythenavel; parsed out, that makes Fucke by the navel. Booth explains that the name 'could either mean an actual attempt at copulation by an inexperienced youth, later reported by a rejected girlfriend, or an equivalent of the word 'dimwit,' i.e., a man who might think that that was the correct way to go about it.'"

Also, did you know the word rooster was invented because the word cock started to be used too much to refer to penises so puritanical Americans had to find a new way to refer to their animals so as not to offend their delicate sensibilities? The more you know!… (plus d'informations)