Re: OT: Slang, curses and vulgarities

On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 12:58:08 +0000, Chris Bates
<chris.maths_student@...> wrote:

>> How do you define a swear word in a cross-linguistic context?
>>
>> I'd say that the attributes of the prototypical swear word are:
>>
>> (a) Intrinsically offensive in many contexts, in some cases all.
>> (b) Alternatives exist with the same meaning but without the
>>    intrinsic offensiveness.
>> (b) In most cases the word can legitimately be used to express anger
>>    or other strong negative emotion, especially in private.
>> (c) Used by children and immature people with much hilarity.
>>
>> Are there any languages with no words that exhibit all four attributes
>> or is swearing a cultural universal?
>>
>I'd mostly agree with this characterisation, although (c) seems to me to
>be an unnecessary requirement. (a) and (b) (the first b) are the main
>requirements, with the second (b) (your sequence went a b b c not a b c
>d) also being slightly dubious.
I'd say that (a) and the second (b) are two different uses of swear words:
Either addressive swearing or expressive swearing, so to say.

I like (c) a lot; it might not be a definition, but it's very definitely a
most explicit clue to what expressions are considered to be vulgar. :)

kry@s:
j. 'mach' wust