Cursing has come a long way since “Bijabs” and “Crankum Crankum”. They’re just two of Susie Dent’s favorite old rants in this week’s top ten.
The word “lalochezia” may be a recent invention, but it fills a distinct gap. Its literal meaning is far from healthy, as it is based on Greek words Laliameans speech, and Chezia “Stool”. In other words, it’s sprinkling your verbal rants with a good rant. And the benefits that follow are real: A growing body of evidence points to the benefits of swearing for stress, frustration, anxiety, and pain relief.
Sometimes, however, full-frontal exaggerations are both inappropriate and undesirable. It’s one thing to swear to the roof of your company, but turning the air blue in your company requires careful handling. In these circumstances, sprinkling historical profanity may be preferable. The selection below is unlikely to upset you and may even make your swearing much more tolerable.
The unemployed
This is one of dozens of “broken oaths” from the Middle Ages, when the real taboo was religious blasphemy and taking God’s name in vain. Gorblimy for “God blind me,” “godzocks” for “God’s hooks” (the nails of the cross), and “crick” for Christ are all recognizable figs. “Bejabbers” is a simple take on “By Jesus”, but it sounds more satisfying.
“Cold”
Both “sard” and “swive” were once synonymous with the F-bomb, and “swive” is even making a comeback in some quarters as a joke substitute. Sard is less well known, and while it may not seem as straightforward as our usual picks, “Sarding Hell” may serve as a modern twist on an old story (no pun intended).
crinkum-crankum
Today’s biggest taboo, the so-called C word, was once used freely as a simple descriptive description. Today, it is considered the biggest offender of the lot. on the 17ththe seventh In the century, a woman’s genitalia was sometimes referred to as her “crinkum-crankum”. Maybe not a very strong word, but definitely more polite.
Quilons
Geoffrey Chaucer’s work, and indeed much of medieval literature, was very obscene. One of the words he introduces us to is “coillons”, a 14the seventhCentury word for “testicle”. appears in The story of forgiveness In the memorable line “I wish I could hold your quillons”. Besides this sentence, it might be a useful substitute for “Bullock”.
Podex
If you’re going to nail the objector with one word, chances are this one won’t make him any the wiser. On the other hand, you know it represents the Latin word for “arse-hole.”
Pygmalion
In 1914, George Bernard Shaw famously created the hero of his play PygmalionEliza Doolittle, shout, “Walk! Probably not bloody!’. On opening night, the line was met with stunned silence, followed by hysterical laughter that lasted more than a minute. “Bloody” was suddenly the key word of the moment. But far from all liking it, they think that this corruption is “God’s blood” or “by Our Lady” and therefore blasphemous. As a result, “Pygmalion” itself became a swear word for a while.
Arsrups
It’s certainly one of the best candidates for a surprise that carries an aggressive edge without feeling overwhelming. When “Arseropes” first appeared, the word was far from rude. In fact, our first record of it dates back to 14the seventh– Century translation of the Bible. Our arches are our intestines, simple as that. But loud, with a judicious touch of defiance, and we can certainly make great use of it.
Read more: Susie Dent’s Top 10: Ten Words to Sigh
“Crush in your teeth!”
If you wanted to insult someone in the 1600s, you probably resorted to epithets like “whore,” “you,” “charming,” or “whore.” If you wish a curse upon them, you could do worse than “crouch in your teeth”! In them this malicious wish may still cause offence, but it is worth noting that it was first recorded in a dictionary written by an Oxford don.
…and some old-fashioned bases for profanity to make you smile.
unmentionable
It’s hard to believe, but the Victorians considered the word “trousers” unspeakable in polite company, perhaps because they contained the unthinkable. A historical thesaurus provides a list of words used to avoid the T word, including “roundhouses,” “sit” and “unspeakable.”
Benders
Even before pants appeared, some people were offended by the idea of ”legs”. American writer Henry Wadsworth Longfellow concluded that “laughter” was a much more acceptable term. Indeed, some British writers accused their American counterparts of hysterical interpretation, particularly in substituting the terms “ball valve” and “stop bag” for “water valve.”
