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The History of Swearing

Brief History Throughout time people have been using swearing/ profanity for a variety of reasons. Profanity is the use of obscene language. Over time people have used swearing to express pain, humor, release emotions, show power and non- violent retribution. Researchers believe swearing was developed in early as primitive times to communicate. They used it when they cried in pain, turning pain into words, using language to send signals. Profanity has a psychological impact on humans “Swearing increases electrical conductance across the skin, pushes the heart rate higher and measurably increases resistance to pain,” (Leith, 2013). This is how profanity affects the brain and emotions. This translated into many cultures using certain gestures or other social behaviour that was interpreted as being offensive. “Linguistic taboos originated from social taboos, most modern swear words relate to sexual or excretory activity. Many of these words have dual meanings,” (Swearing, 2013). Ancient Romans Ancient Romans derived their profanity from sexual activities and displayed it through the use of graffiti. They would refer to body parts and functions to shock and offend “We know this because the Romans had a number of words that appeared in graffiti (which the Romans invented) rather than in literature: the Roman ‘Big 10’words referred exclusively to the genital and excretory organs and the various ways they could be used,” (Swearing, 2013). The worst insults you could use were sexual and about penetration, (Audiobook: Holy Sh*t, 2014). The Romans used the shock value of profanity, just as people do still today. They had a fairly open society that was not focused on religion more on sex which created this path of obscenity for several other cultures since.

Biblical Times In biblical times, religious cultures incorporated profanity into their language that had a holy focus. Religious swearwords were initially far more offensive than those that refer to bodily functions. In this society, the most offensive language was that which violated the Third Commandment: “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.” (Neima, 2013). The religious taboos fueled this and made guidelines of what was proper in the eyes of God. “To swear was to promise solemnly before it means to be used as rude word,” (Swearing, 2013). At this time if you wanted to offend someone you would use a religious term to grab attention with the negative connotations. The influence of the Bible and Christianity was huge and swear words were seen for their literal meaning. “The Christian must strive to keep his speech pure, such as facilitates edifying (Col. 4:6). One must try to refrain from the vulgar, the irreverent, and the reviling abuse of language that is unbecoming to the spiritual person,” (Jackson, 2014). The profanity shows what the people cared about at the time, giving a map into the lives of people over centuries. The slurs were made to make people feel dirty and morally impure. Gradually, over the years there is a shift again after development of Protestantism, (Audiobook: Holy Sh*t, 2014).

Middle Ages The middle ages was a transformation culturally and linguistically. They used words that would be offensive today in textbooks, literature, and public places, (Audiobook: Holy Sh*t, 2014). People back then “did not have much of an issue with describing bodily functions in ways that we might find less appropriate, (Woodbury, 2014). Shakespeare is a popular example of profanity development in the middle to Victorian ages, he uses terms such as “Good Lord, Gods body, and what the hell,” (Shakespearean Profanities, 2012). At the time this would be the most offensive words someone could use. Profanity becomes more modern and recognizable as it moves towards Victorian Eras. During this era many people were demure and appropriate and wanted to maintain an image. Swearing also moved away from the focus on biblical profanity. Profanity became about gender, race and class. A fundamental indicator of wealth was the ability to avoid the communal living practices of the poor; the privatization of the physical body was paralleled by a privatization of the body in language, (Neima, 2013). This is when discriminatory language really develops and is carried out to modern day. Victorian brothels had menus essentially of all the services they would provide and used terms that people would find highly offensive today, (Barry, 2013)

Modern Day In modern day culture people use profanity to relieve pain, grab attention and represent characteristics of genders or ethnicity. Racial slurs are on all forms of social media entertainment and are shown in a positive light. Profanity is considered humorous in most contexts, even children curing all the time is found to be amusing. There are several videos on the Vine App and YouTube that feature children swearing and being rewarded for it. Many experts are concerned regarding the effects on swearing children and have conducted studies on aggression and swearing. “Profanity use is a mediator of physical and relational aggression and beliefs about profanity, and beliefs about profanity represent a mediator of profanity exposure in multiple types of media and concurrent profanity use, (Coyne, 2011). People are constantly wondering where the boundary is now with swear words because people have become so desensitized. Many men identify with profanity because it is typical in today’s culture to act or speak certain way. “The implication of swearing as a male domain (Frank, 1983) can also be found in the language of swearing itself, which includes an abundance of terms for females and their body parts,” (Who’s swearing now? The Social Aspects of Conversational Swearing, 2012). Profanity use in films, songs, and other forms of entertainment is so extreme to the extent that content needs to be rated for appropriateness. Curse words have been losing their taboo in society due to all the desensitization. Films such as Scarface, Django, and Pulp fiction use swear words over 200 times and glamorize that culture.