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 Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2004 4:21 pm
I know the f-bomb originated around the '40s (well, vaguely, anyway), and "damn" and "hell" have been around since the Bible, but does anyone know when other words started being used as curse words? or where I could find out?
And yes, this is relevant. I'm writing a book set in the 1860s, and I don't want anyone saying something that didn't exist.
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Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2004 4:31 pm
Tarnation has roots back in old english I think. I'd have to take a look at the map of England with all the variants of it in my Academic Advisor's room. But I'm pretty sure it's been around a while. If you need to you can always revert to Bloody. And ******** has been around longer than the 1940's. Feck, the polite variant of ******** (in Ireland at least) was used at least in the early 1930's). If you can find a dictionary with the swear words that you want to use in it, then you should be able to find out about when they originated. Usually they have it in the little italic text and all where the state the word origins. I may be confused though.
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Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2004 4:33 pm
Im not sure about cuss words, but i do know the history of the middle finger. Way back when with one of the wars with England and France (i dont know which one, there are too many sweatdrop ) the English threatned that every French archer they caught, they would cut off their middle finger (which was neccessary in order to use a bow and arrow). But they didnt catch a single French man, so when the next battle came around the French archers raised their middle finger in sort of 'Ha ha!' sort of way whee
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Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2004 4:35 pm
Lady_Brimstone Im not sure about cuss words, but i do know the history of the middle finger. Way back when with one of the wars with England and France (i dont know which one, there are too many sweatdrop ) the English threatned that every French archer they caught, they would cut off their middle finger (which was neccessary in order to use a bow and arrow). But they didnt catch a single French man, so when the next battle came around the French archers raised their middle finger in sort of 'Ha ha!' sort of way whee This was the hundred years war. And I'm actually thinking its the French who cut off the middle fingers of the English archers, because the English had the Welsh longbows. In fact, England was more technilogically advanced. Don't quote me on this, but I'm about 90% sure that it was the French who cut of the fingers of the English.
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Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2004 4:39 pm
tgas Lady_Brimstone Im not sure about cuss words, but i do know the history of the middle finger. Way back when with one of the wars with England and France (i dont know which one, there are too many sweatdrop ) the English threatned that every French archer they caught, they would cut off their middle finger (which was neccessary in order to use a bow and arrow). But they didnt catch a single French man, so when the next battle came around the French archers raised their middle finger in sort of 'Ha ha!' sort of way whee This was the hundred years war. And I'm actually thinking its the French who cut off the middle fingers of the English archers, because the English had the Welsh longbows. In fact, England was more technilogically advanced. Don't quote me on this, but I'm about 90% sure that it was the French who cut of the fingers of the English. And you're probably right sweatdrop See where i fail at my tests? I know what happens, but i confuse the details like who fired the bullet and who got shot xd Note to self - Historian = not compatiable career option
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Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2004 4:49 pm
Apropos Tarnation has roots back in old english I think. I'd have to take a look at the map of England with all the variants of it in my Academic Advisor's room. But I'm pretty sure it's been around a while. If you need to you can always revert to Bloody. And ******** has been around longer than the 1940's. Feck, the polite variant of ******** (in Ireland at least) was used at least in the early 1930's). If you can find a dictionary with the swear words that you want to use in it, then you should be able to find out about when they originated. Usually they have it in the little italic text and all where the state the word origins. I may be confused though. Well, it's more, you know, set in America. sweatdrop And I'll try to find one. 3nodding Lady B and tgas: That's very interesting. surprised
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Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2004 5:04 pm
Most curse words were more "crude" and lower-class than foul at first. From ********, to s**t, to arse (a** was actually the more polite one, but as people began to use it more frequently and arse fell out of use, they switched. Actually, that's happened with a couple other terms as well, and is even happening today though I can't really remember any except that "toilet" used to be the polite word, but it got used to much, then "bathroom" but that got used too much and now it's "restroom." Bathroom isn't really a curse word, but it is considered more crude now adays that it used to be. I remember being in class in like fourth grade and a kid raised his hand and asked if he could go to the bathroom and everyone sort of gasped and giggled. It made me wonder why we don't say that in school or restaurants when it's perfectly fine and it's just a matter of being over-used.)
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Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2004 11:05 pm
We had a whole day in English class when we got the "cuss word lecture."
Basically, most of the words that are vulgar now were the common words way back in Old English. Then the French invaded, and then the Romans, and the language began to change. Latin was considered the highest-class language, and French was next, and the old English was spoken by only the uneducated peasants.
Example:
Cow> Beef> Bovine
Class prejudice then came into play, and as the French- and Latin-speaking nobility looked down on anything vulgar (which, in itself, just means common), the very words that the peasants spoke became ********> Intercourse> Copulate
Does it shock you when I say "Copulate?" Of course not, even though it means the exact same thing.
A lot of insults have to do with class prejudice too. "Hussy" means "housewife," and "slut" just means a scullery maid.
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Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2004 8:22 am
tgas Lady_Brimstone Im not sure about cuss words, but i do know the history of the middle finger. Way back when with one of the wars with England and France (i dont know which one, there are too many sweatdrop ) the English threatned that every French archer they caught, they would cut off their middle finger (which was neccessary in order to use a bow and arrow). But they didnt catch a single French man, so when the next battle came around the French archers raised their middle finger in sort of 'Ha ha!' sort of way whee This was the hundred years war. And I'm actually thinking its the French who cut off the middle fingers of the English archers, because the English had the Welsh longbows. In fact, England was more technilogically advanced. Don't quote me on this, but I'm about 90% sure that it was the French who cut of the fingers of the English. You are correct. 3nodding The French used to cut off the index+middle fingers of English longbowmen they caught, thus making them useless as archers. In retaliation to this, the English longbowmen would stick their two fingers up at the French in an act of defiance.
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Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2004 7:30 pm
Longbow UK tgas Lady_Brimstone Im not sure about cuss words, but i do know the history of the middle finger. Way back when with one of the wars with England and France (i dont know which one, there are too many sweatdrop ) the English threatned that every French archer they caught, they would cut off their middle finger (which was neccessary in order to use a bow and arrow). But they didnt catch a single French man, so when the next battle came around the French archers raised their middle finger in sort of 'Ha ha!' sort of way whee This was the hundred years war. And I'm actually thinking its the French who cut off the middle fingers of the English archers, because the English had the Welsh longbows. In fact, England was more technilogically advanced. Don't quote me on this, but I'm about 90% sure that it was the French who cut of the fingers of the English. You are correct. 3nodding The French used to cut off the index+middle fingers of English longbowmen they caught, thus making them useless as archers. In retaliation to this, the English longbowmen would stick their two fingers up at the French in an act of defiance. Sorry, but you're all wrong. That never happened. The middle finger is a crude sexual reference, and has never had anything to do with archery.
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Posted: Fri Dec 24, 2004 4:47 am
Donelle Longbow UK tgas Lady_Brimstone Im not sure about cuss words, but i do know the history of the middle finger. Way back when with one of the wars with England and France (i dont know which one, there are too many sweatdrop ) the English threatned that every French archer they caught, they would cut off their middle finger (which was neccessary in order to use a bow and arrow). But they didnt catch a single French man, so when the next battle came around the French archers raised their middle finger in sort of 'Ha ha!' sort of way whee This was the hundred years war. And I'm actually thinking its the French who cut off the middle fingers of the English archers, because the English had the Welsh longbows. In fact, England was more technilogically advanced. Don't quote me on this, but I'm about 90% sure that it was the French who cut of the fingers of the English. You are correct. 3nodding The French used to cut off the index+middle fingers of English longbowmen they caught, thus making them useless as archers. In retaliation to this, the English longbowmen would stick their two fingers up at the French in an act of defiance. Sorry, but you're all wrong. That never happened. The middle finger is a crude sexual reference, and has never had anything to do with archery. Did you not read what I said? I said the index and middle finger were cut off. Hence the gesture of sticking two fingers up. When did I say anything about just the middle finger being cut off? wink I'm 100% correct.
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Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2005 9:42 pm
Ship
High
In
Transit
That's all I know.
u____u
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Posted: Wed May 04, 2005 12:46 pm
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
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Posted: Wed May 04, 2005 3:51 pm
Longbow UK Donelle Longbow UK tgas Lady_Brimstone Im not sure about cuss words, but i do know the history of the middle finger. Way back when with one of the wars with England and France (i dont know which one, there are too many sweatdrop ) the English threatned that every French archer they caught, they would cut off their middle finger (which was neccessary in order to use a bow and arrow). But they didnt catch a single French man, so when the next battle came around the French archers raised their middle finger in sort of 'Ha ha!' sort of way whee This was the hundred years war. And I'm actually thinking its the French who cut off the middle fingers of the English archers, because the English had the Welsh longbows. In fact, England was more technilogically advanced. Don't quote me on this, but I'm about 90% sure that it was the French who cut of the fingers of the English. You are correct. 3nodding The French used to cut off the index+middle fingers of English longbowmen they caught, thus making them useless as archers. In retaliation to this, the English longbowmen would stick their two fingers up at the French in an act of defiance. Sorry, but you're all wrong. That never happened. The middle finger is a crude sexual reference, and has never had anything to do with archery. Did you not read what I said? I said the index and middle finger were cut off. Hence the gesture of sticking two fingers up. When did I say anything about just the middle finger being cut off? wink I'm 100% correct. It only became a sexual referance *after* it gained popularity for taunting the French. LUK is right about it originally being two fingers. At some point the English just got lazy and abbreviated it down to one. As we all know, you can apply sexual undertones to just about everything.
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Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2005 1:03 pm
I was actually wondering about a lot of this myself. There's the old thing about Fornication Under Consent of King, or For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, for ********. But I recently discovered that a LOT of slang words we use for private parts now have been around much longer than I thought. (I have antique erotica to thank for this...). C**t, for example, and C*ck. Any idea where those are from? C*ck I can guess from Rooster, but the other I have no idea.
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