Forbidden words: How we navigate linguistic taboos

[@SirStumblebum]

The sheer lengths H-E-Double-Hockeysticks goes to makes it a favorite for me.

[@BudewFan_]

Honestly I use H-E-Double Hockeysticks when I want to go a step further than saying hell but not quite to “FUCK!” Yet, very good in between word

[@idontwantahandlethough]

As a Minnesotan, I enjoy that one too. First of all, hockey. Second of all, I like the implication the even SPELLING the word 'hell' would be horrible, so you have to use a stand-in for the _letters_ to keep your soul pure😂

[@paulhammond6978]

Heck, that's a good one!

[@evansjessicae]

As a Christian in the millennial age group, I heard this one a lot. 😅

[@cinnasauria]

I remember a friend calling me to ask "Do you want to come over and watch H-E-Double-Hockeysticks Boy?" and I was so confused, she wouldn't elaborate so I had no clue what that meant til I actually went over and saw the cover lol.

[@aafrophonee]

There's demonitization pressure which led to words like "seggs" and "unalived"

[@BlackTomorrowMusic]

I wonder if this will lead to a whole new treadmill where online platforms start to also demonetize these words, leading to even newer ones as content creators try to stay ahead of the censors.

[@hoominbeeing]

​@@BlackTomorrowMusicThe demonetization happened because advertisers demanded it The advertisers demanded it because they were concerned it would affect their reputation. I think Google would be slow or will never catch on, because it won't be necessary. "Seggs" and "unalive" don't give them as bad of a reputation when their ads are in front of such a video. Also consider the most inappropriate "Elsa and Spiderman" content has been part of the front page for years now. As long as you can put up a facade of kid friendliness, you're golden

[@mountainsidelife6654]

And Grape for ... and calling people coconuts (where they used to call them oreos.)

[@jurgnobs1308]

​@@BlackTomorrowMusic it almost certainly will, given enough time. Google will react once tge first advettisers start complaining)

[@theorderofthebees7308]

a video talking about that on his channel would be his own take on the movie inception 😂

[@sovietbear1917]

As someone who gets injured quite a bit, I've taken to yelling out 'Curses!' when it happens. Makes me feel like an old time comic book villain and I don't say the F word in front of customers.

[@languagejones6784]

@@sovietbear1917 that’s delightful

[@Wakwise]

'Curse you and your antics!' is a fun one I've used jokingly in the workplace before

[@marikothecheetah9342]

I don't want to use religious exclamations. I replaced Jesus Christ with Cheesus Crisp. In my native Polish I use euphemisms that were invented in my family (grandpa, whom I never knew - you ruled :D ).

[@idontwantahandlethough]

I love it

[@idontwantahandlethough]

@@marikothecheetah9342 I would totally worship Cheesus Crisp, he sounds UHHHHMAZING

[@johnlumsden9102]

"Well gosh darn it to heck... Sorry about my language I'm having a rough day" an actual sentence spoken by a machinist at my work once. Really nice guy.

[@languagejones6784]

@@johnlumsden9102 I know someone like that, but they’ll casually drop what they think is the ineffable name of gd and it’s just a lot to process. I jump every time

[@GamingGardevoir]

@@languagejones6784they take the time to pronounce the name that English approximates as “why aech double-you aech”?

[@NeurosenkavalierEmilSinclair]

wtf

[@ViniciusTrator]

I'm a native Portuguese speaker that basically learned English in an USA college. I actually curse a lot more when I speak English, I think it is because I learned English from a bunch of college kids instead of from my parents.

[@chrisbunka]

I heard “foda-se” from watching a Brazilian series on Netflix and then asked my Portuguese teacher to explain the meaning. She brought a great big grin 😄 to my face.

[@andreaeisenberg8851]

I live in Portugal and am learning Portuguese. It is interesting to me that in all the other languages I've studied, swear words very quickly come up and people enjoy teaching them to you. I have not had that happen once in my two years here. I still don't know any swear words in Ptese. I have a dog and only recently learned cocô, the word for poop!

[@ViniciusTrator]

@@andreaeisenberg8851 Shame, swear words are the backbone of any language 😆

[@violet_broregarde]

same with me in spanish lol i think it's because cursing is easy to master since it's obvious and memorable and there aren't that many words. it's like mastering the vocabulary necessary to play chess or something

[@13tuyuti]

Strangely, with me it's the reverse. I curse less in foreign languages. Maybe because the emotional distance to what I'm saying is bigger.

[@sebastiaanstok]

"Soak my deck" actually sounds rather dirty still 😂

[@skeleletonboi4533]

especially if you're a kiwi ( small e is pronounced very similarly to small i)

[@Glassandcandy]

You can always just shout out the name of the famous medieval Arabic philosopher, Suq Madik.

[@beetledjuice3062]

@@Glassandcandy This was too good

[@prodigal_southerner]

Especially for Mormons.

[@davidhumphreys3028]

Shout out to Australian children's show "Bluey" for popularising "Duck Cake!" and "Biscuits!" among dads of young kids.

[@andrewholaway4113]

The number of times I have said "cheese and jam" or "cheese and crackers" in front of my kids is mind boggling 😂 My daughter has taken to using "dodgy" even though she was born and raised in Maryland too, which cracks me up. That and "for real life?"

[@aste_]

Shout out to "The Scottish Play"

[@ekuu8918]

Shoutout to all the euphemisms I've seen for menstruation and menstrual products! Some favorites include "feminine items", "sanitary napkins", and "women's hygiene", as well as "surfing the red tide", "shark week", "visit from Auntie Flo", and arguably "period" itself.

[@amandahodgin9316]

My Mom used to say “riding the cotton horse”

[@twobluestripes]

definitely “period” is a euphemism that became taboo! i’ve heard older women (like older boomers or silent generation) say “monthly” as a noun. Anne Lister in the 1830s wrote a euphemism for it in her diary, she called it her cousin, as in “found my cousin had come this morning”. and her wife Anne Walker referred to her’s as “Monsieur”. i love Cher in Clueless saying “i was surfing the crimson wave, i had to make a mad dash to the ladies’”

[@TenaciousSLG]

While we're on the topic of "ladies' words" (lol), I'm always annoyed that so many people refer to a woman's entire genitalia as "her vagina." I don't know why, but "vulva" is apparently a forbidden word. I hope I'm even allowed to post this comment since I un-euphemized a body part!

[@johningham1880]

In the North of England, women will sometimes refer to being “unwell”. This confused me when, shortly after I moved here to work as a GP, when one patient said: “Doctor, I feel really poorly when I’m unwell”.

[@_JayRamsey_]

I've often heard, "moon sickness"

[@callmejeffbob]

One of the silliest euphemisms I can think of is one we see in a grocery store when we're looking for "toilet paper", which I never found to be a particularly offensive term to begin with. Invariably the sign above the proper aisle in which find toilet paper will say "bath tissue", and indeed the packaging on the toilet paper also indicates it is "bath tissue". I turned 70 years old recently and in my whole life I've never, ever heard anyone say anything like: "I need to buy a few rolls of bath tissue because I'm running low". I sometimes wonder if when someone that is learning English reads the words "bath tissue" on a package of toilet paper will think to themselves: "do Americans really try to dry themselves after a bath using toilet paper?" On the other hand, there are less polite ways to say toilet paper that are in common usage such as "butt wipe", "bowel towel" and "poop paper"; I'm sure there are more.

[@languagejones6784]

TP is now BT 😂

[@angreagach]

One of my teachers told us to say "toilet tissue" instead of "toilet paper." We all ignored the advice.

[@Reubentheimitator6572]

@@angreagachAt least 'toilet tissue' could sound fun to say because they alliterate - strict, the stressed parts of both words start with the same sound -

[@angreagach]

@@Reubentheimitator6572 Reminds me of a scene in the movie Monkey Business: Cary Grant tells Marilyn Monroe to say,, "terrify." She does. Then he tells her to say, "tissue." She does. Then he tells her to say them together. She says, "terrify tissue" and he says "No!" and kisses her.

[@patrickhodson8715]

The only dysphemism I’ve ever heard for toilet paper is “shit tickets”

[@Gobear1]

The evolution of terminology used to describe people with intellectual deficits is an interesting example of the euphemism treadmill. In the early 20th century, psychologists devised the clinical terms "idiot," "moron," and "imbecile" as a more scientific-sounding alternative to the previously used "feeble-minded." However, as these words became derogatory slurs, medical professionals adopted the term "mental retardation." This too eventually fell out of favor and was replaced by the currently preferred "intellectual disability," a phrase that will likely be supplanted by another term in the coming generations.

[@languagejones6784]

“Different cognitive abilities” and “cognitively impeded” are two I’ve seen recently

[@fakkelplemp]

@@languagejones6784 'learning disability' is the last I have seen

[@caseycasas2498]

@@fakkelplemp "learning disability" is more common in the UK from what I've seen in disability studies circles. In the US, "learning disability" and "intellectual disability" tend to be different things (with learning disability meaning things like dyslexia & dyscalcula, and intellectual disability referring to Down Syndrome, some traumatic brain injuries, etc)

[@jampharos]

pour one out for the word "special"

[@caseycasas2498]

@@jampharos as a disabled person who was a disabled kid, I loathe the word special in that context

[@tharo4390]

My favourite linguistic taboo, two for the price of one! Similar to the Irish English "the fair folk" to avoid summoning fairies, we say "los mejores de mozotros", which roughly means "the best among us", or "la buena djente", which means "the good people" to avoid summoning sheydim (spirits) in Ladino - at least in the Eastern/Ottoman variant. I get a feeling you'd love reading "Ritual medical lore of Sephardic women: sweetening the spirits, healing the sick" by Isaac and Rosemary Levy. You will find lots and lots of info on Ottoman Ladino language, taboos, conversation scripts, etc! And also, yes, I enjoy hearing you talk about Yiddish but dream of the day when you talk about my own beloved Jewish dialect!

[@pebblebrookbooks4852]

Underrepresented, definitely. Most of us Gentiles know some Yiddish words from Hollywood, but Ladino we have no effing clue...

[@Mac_an_Mheiriceanaigh]

In Irish they are called "na daoine maithe" (the good people). 'Fair folk' is some English poetic innovation.

[@tharo4390]

@@Mac_an_Mheiriceanaigh ooop, that's really obvious in retrospect, sorry/thank you for the correction!

[@Mac_an_Mheiriceanaigh]

@@tharo4390 it just means it's even more similar to Ladino than you thought!

[@erldagerl9826]

Ladino is so cool. Check out the work of Dr. Devin Naar at the University of Washington.

[@Sora_Halomon]

I like your videos on controversial subjects because I feel like you give the proper amount of respect to the concepts, while maintaining the communication of those concepts. It feels like a proper analysis, which helps me sincerely understand things that I otherwise wouldn't have the words to describe. Thank you Dr Taylor Jones, for the very good videos.

[@me9266-m7z]

I once read somewhere that someone was "going to the bathroom all over the living room"

[@tharo4390]

some architects are just weird

[@TallWillow1]

I had a southern mom tell me that her kid "used the bathroom in his pants." It wasn't until years later that she meant a specific kind of bathroom accident. My husband from the same town uses the same euphemism sometimes.

[@Mac_an_Mheiriceanaigh]

Not sure what age you are or where you are from, but that is completely normal English to me. What would you say? "Defecating"?

[@Mac_an_Mheiriceanaigh]

@@SZvenM Well yes, of course. But in a normal context that isn't one of those more specific ones you mentioned, I think "went to the bathroom" is what I would say and expect. "Oh, I don't have to go. I just went."

[@victoriafelix5932]

@@Mac_an_Mheiriceanaigh dropping soft bombs on the shagpile?

[@ASB-is-AOK]

I can't believe you did Mister Rogers dirty like that! 😂😂😂

[@wirrbel]

I did not understand that section of the video AT ALL. What was he actually saying?

[@Bmonkeygurl]

​@@wirrbelThe N

[@jeremycooper2127]

@@wirrbel I think this was a clever attempt to invoke the McGurk effect. It certainly worked on me.

[@pebblebrookbooks4852]

It's a neighborly day in this beauty-wood - I got this from my neighbor!! That one day Mr Rogers got high...

[@beezany]

@@wirrbel Dr. Jones mentioned the "hard R" which refers to two different ways of pronouncing the N-word, specifically whether it's pronounced with a rhotic -er (the "hard R") or a non-rhotic -ah ending. the non-rhotic version is the respectful in-group version used between AAE speakers. the rhotic version is mostly used by bigots. Dr. Jones further explained that when using "neighbor" as a substitute word, you can keep the same "hard R" distinction, pronouncing it either "neighba" (respectful) or "neighber" (rude). thus the joke that Mr Rogers's pronunciation is "not cool"

[@Friday.S]

So this one is German (because I am as well): Some people replace our word for "sh*t", „Scheiße“, with „Scheibenkleister“ (a nonsense word meaning "(window) pane glue" or something like that). But I know one woman who will say „Scheibenhonig“ ((window) pane honey) instead, which really surprised me the first time and is even more nonsensical. (And thus I love it)

[@timseguine2]

Or relatedly people will replace "beschissen" (shitty) with "bescheiden" (modest)

[@uamsnof]

@@timseguine2 Bescheiden is great, because people use it even in professional settings (with colleagues, not customers) and everyone knows you mean “shitty” but it literally means “humble/modest.” “The PowerPoint slides he made were … modest.”

[@Bmonkeygurl]

The Germans we have met seem very free about certain words in English that are curse words. I even heard teachers use them in a speech for a graduation the other day in Germany. 😄

[@uamsnof]

@@Bmonkeygurl Germans don’t understand the impact that certain curse words have in English, both because they weren’t socialized in an English-speaking society, and because certain words like “sh*t” in German (“scheiße”) don’t always hit as hard as they do in English.

[@mobo7420]

@@Bmonkeygurl Yes, the German taboo on fecal language is much lower than in English.

[@Joshua-w5hJ77]

While offensive, it's interesting to look at tiktok change words to avoid getting their videos taken down or censored like using "acoustic" instead of autistic or "restarted" instead of r**arded. Or using "unalive" instead of died.

[@languagejones6784]

This is a perfect example of taboo avoidance for social censure…in the form of demonitization

[@pegy6384]

Grape, too.

[@totallytubular618]

This started on KZbin

[@decare696]

I'm always wondering how much those words would actually get censored and how much of this is just panopticon self-censorship

[@HarmoneaSinn]

@@decare696 It's necessary on TikTok, and to some extent Twitter -- on the latter, there was famously a wave of weird bans. You were ok if no one hated you, but if anyone reported your account in bad faith, it would get skimmed by a bot looking for words that indicated you were breaking rules. Gonna "Kill some time" between classes? Threatening Violence! Banned. It's not a real thing anywhere else that I know of.

[@soorian6493]

RIP gyatdamn. Yet another part of black English rendered meaningless by social media

[@languagejones6784]

@@soorian6493 cotdamb still going strong!

[@jamieemerson2741]

Telling some to “go fly a kite” amuses me for how adorable and wholesome the replacement is compared to the original.

[@selmiespot]

what is the original phrase its replacing? does it refer to hanging?

[@jamieemerson2741]

@@selmiespot I assumed it was “go f-k yourself” but I could be wrong.

[@jamieemerson2741]

In a “shut the front door” vein.

[@boring7823]

In a similar vein I like "Go forth an multiply". The great thing about that one is that it gives many people who want to object to it a huge case of cognitive dissonance.

[@rmonogue]

Props also to “Well bless your heart”, as it often stands in for a lot of things you probably shouldn’t say to someone.

[@ajschlesinger]

Every Spanish speaker I know laughed when Augustín said "Miercoles" during a tense moment in the movie Encanto. "Mierda" is the Spanish word for 💩. It's probably a common replacement euphemism, but as a second language speaker it was my first time hearing it. I was blown away by the cheeky cleverness of it 😂

[@simonr-vp4if]

We also say "mercredi!" in France to avoid "merde" :)

[@marikothecheetah9342]

@@simonr-vp4if mardi would make so much more sense, though :P

[@simonr-vp4if]

@@marikothecheetah9342 Actually in Quebec, since they do not say "merde" but "marde", the equivalent is mardi" !

[@marikothecheetah9342]

@@simonr-vp4if thanks! It's so interesting to know. :)

[@dmilgate2713]

@@simonr-vp4if LOL 😂 I didn't know that. It seems so cute, kinda like my mom exclaiming "Sugar" when she is angered or frustrated and others would have said "Sh*t".

[@silverharloe]

Fantasy and science fiction tend to just fraking make up frelling words, but I've come to appreciate how Brandon Sanderson has the characters use words that refer to strongly negative things in their world, like "rust" being a curse word on a world where magic is based on metals.

[@silverharloe]

I recently listened to audiobooks of the Stormlight Archives - 4 55-hour novels and 2 8-hour novellas and now "storms!" is starting to grow on me as a curse.

[@p.l.g3190]

And, of course, you have "Belgium," which is only used by loose-tongued people like Zaphod Beeblebrox in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy universe. What a turlingdrome!

[@pebblebrookbooks4852]

Oh felgercarb - I forgot all about Battlestar Galactica!! Mormons have the best euphemisms, mothertrucker!!

[@Mornmeck]

My favorite taboo avoidance is an attempt to avoid the Danish word "perker" (mix of 'persian' and 'turk') by saying "perler", meaning 'pearls'. It comes from a 2009 case of a police officer getting in trouble for saying the actual slur, but stubbornly stood by saying the ladder. What ended up happening was the birth of a new sister-slur, with now both words being considered offensive.

[@EeeEee-bm5gx]

Did he got out of the trouble?

[@patrickhodson8715]

“Mother father!” is a long-time favorite of mine. I also like “Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds!” although I don’t think to use it very often. A bit off topic since it still contains a swear, I’ve grown to really like “mothers and fuckers of the jury”

[@TacticalFluke09]

what a spectacular video. you haven't mentioned it so far, but I thought I'd say again for any prospective publishers in the comments that I really want your book on black american english and so does everyone else.

[@pixlplague]

As Quebecer, growing up in French we'd use the word fuck to AVOID swearing. Fast forward 40 years and I speak fluent "Boston Harbor dock worker" English (3 f-bombs per phrase)... Makes it awkward professionally a bit but I like to pretend it's my charm 😅

[@nataliekate2176]

Also reminiscent of how us Australians speak 😂😂😂

[@stephss]

The F word is baked into the Canadian lexicon...

[@scole7603]

I worked in health care at a home for people with disabilities as a caregiver. We were not allowed to used any profanity at all, for the most part I was fine with that and removed it from my vocabulary. But I found that I have a fondness for one certain that i just couldn't drop so I replace it with... "Son of a Goat Herder" Everyone always knew what I was saying. The residents, all of whom I worked with were adults, thought it hilarious, and I never got in trouble.

[@seandmr]

My favorite is the replacement bait and switch, where in reference to someone you want to insult by invoking a cutesy and possibly infantilizing replacement, but actually want to go hard enough that you’ll still give the utterance, you do both. For example: King Charles == Chucklef*ck

[@languagejones6784]

@@seandmr “chucklehead” while tamer, is one of my favorite new yorkisms

[@lynnebattaglia-triggs1042]

The poor man has been dutiful and suffered long enough. I don’t need to insult him.

[@Didntwanttomakeauser]

@@lynnebattaglia-triggs1042 Poor? He has a gold carriage, and a gold hat.

[@therisingtithes]

This video immediately reminded me of a skit from Crank Lucas about what gangsta rap would sound like if it was edited for kids to listen to it in Disney movies: "I got mother-fathers in the streets, and I got monkey-fighters in the trenches..."

[@languagejones6784]

@@therisingtithes the Cohen brothers evidently insisted they do the replacements for the Big Lebowski airing on TV. “This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps!”

[@frigginjerk]

@@languagejones6784 I like the cable-TV edit of the Sam Jackson movie "Snakes on a Plane." "I have had it with these monkey-fightin' snakes on this Monday-to-Friday plane!!"

[@RadarLakeKosh]

My favorite is an example of replacing the spelling of the word with an initialism: See you next Tuesday!

[@victoriab8186]

As a rather sheltered 11 year old, this was how I came across the taboo term. I had a music lesson every Tuesday, and the teacher said ‘see you next Tuesday’. Cue scandalised silence and much confusion on my end.

[@vsmash2]

Not exactly on the same topic, but i find it fascinating how different culture/languages swear. For example in english sexual swears the hardest, in german scatological ones are on top instead. Dutch has a penchant for diseases, and Austrians spice it up with the occasional blasphemy.

[@SpeedyGwen]

and the french always have to make it either about women or about religion

[@Glassandcandy]

Sexual swears are not the most taboo in English- racial swears are. When people say “suck my dick” or “eat my ass” they risk losing a certain level of respect. When someone, the wrong type especially, uses a racial slur like the N word they risk being socially condemned and ostracized to the point of it essentially ruining their life. That’s MUCH more power. Keep in mind that while typing this reflexively as a native English speaker I made no attempt to conceal or ameliorate the word “dick” but when it came to the N word I don’t even write it out when referring to it, using a euphemism instead even when not using it to consciously demean someone. That’s a sign of an incredibly socially powerful piece of language.

[@NeurosenkavalierEmilSinclair]

love to the spanish cojones 😂

[@sabin615]

My very pious/conservative/fundamentalist parents were okay with and even required using euphemisms to make (only) necessary talk of bodies and taking care of bodily needs somehow politer. We had an outhouse (no running water, so no indoor bathroom), but they never called it an outhouse - even though that was already a euphemism - but "down back," referring somewhat more obliquely to its place in the yard. But using euphemisms because of some superstition was absolutely forbidden, as was the exercise of any superstition, such as knocking wood or tossing salt over the shoulder because superstition implied one did not trust (or believe) God. Even saying "Good Luck!" was forbidden, because believing in luck is to disbelieve in providence. It was also a hard, fast, unbendable rule in their house and in the life of anyone who lived in their house that any word that was considered foul was never to be spoken or written - not even by substitution or alteration or leaving out letters because that was, in their view, morally identical to saying the "bad" word. So while my schoolmates freely used words like heck, darn, dang, shoot and such and considered it completely okay because it wasn't the "actual" bad word, I grew up without expletives at all. As a young adult, I reacted to that upbringing by telling my own children that there are no bad words. Period. There are bad intentions. There are words used to bad purposes. But that is not inherent in the words themselves. And there are words that people respond to negatively because they imagine or have been taught they are bad. Now, as a sexagenarian clergy person, I avoid expletives in the pulpit to coddle sensitivities. But I still insist that there are no bad words, just words that do not produce desired responses. (But I do not live in a tribe that would kill me if I uttered the wrong word. Mostly.) And euphemisms I use more often with comic intent.

[@fieryweasel]

The density of information in this video is amazing. Also, shout-out to Ugaritic, an underappreciated language. Some of my favorite avoidance phrases have come from the old comic strip "Pogo", such as "slab-sided" ("That slab-sided, knock-bone, ear-lappin' pig..."). Subscribed!

[@HeavyTopspin]

Loved it when you started listing words quickly, gave me flashbacks to George Carlin's "incomplete list of impolite words" from the 1984 "Carlin on Campus" album.

[@uamsnof]

English replacement terms like “shut the front door” or “MOTHERFATHER” crack me up

[@twobluestripes]

i kind of like “motherlover” and “motherlovin” even better

[@victoriafelix5932]

what about "the tradesman's entrance"?

[@garad123456]

In present-day Finnish there are numerous words for bear like otso, mesikämmen (honey paw), kontio, Kouvo, nalle, ohto. The "official" name is karhu. But I don't know if that was the "original" name or if it always kept changing. You couldnt say it because you might summon it so you'd use an euphemism. I'm studying Spanish and "left" in Spanish is izquierda which I always though sounds strange. Turns out it's a Basque word. Why would they adopt basque word for such a common and everyday word? I think it's because the latin word for left, sinistra, became more and more taboo. Left is the opposite of "right" (derecho) also in Spanish... opposite of right is wrong. bad, evil. And so this word's meaning was tainted and people felt more comfortable using the Basque word. The ring-finger is apparently considered magical among many of the world's people. In Finnish it's called nimetön (nameless). In Chinese it's also called something like unnamed. Russian and Sanskrit too. I think you weren't supposed to say the name of the finger to not trigger the magic or something? I wonder if there ever was an original name, like did people even know the word. One more thing... you-know-who likes this video.

[@davidbangsdemocracy5455]

Actually it is English that uses “Right” for the opposite of both Wrong and Left. Derecho in Spanish means straight ahead. Derecha is Right, and it is only the opposite of Izquierda.

[@garad123456]

​@@davidbangsdemocracy5455 English, and Finnish, and probably other languages have the same word for "right" side with right as in correct / just / "the right to do something" etc. A right angle is exactly 90 angle. Upright, straight. In Finnish oikea is right side, but it also means "real", "true", "correct" and oikeus is justice, oikeudet is rights as in human rights, or everymansrights ;) In Spanish there are also "derechos humanos" for human rights. But you're right about the derecho vs derecha, that was my mistake, and I was only speculating about the opposite thing. But there seems to be some connection with those words in Spanish too. "Straight" direction is associated with morally straight as opposed to morally "twisted", sinister

[@gcewing]

I think these connotations of words for left and right came about because right-handed people were considered the norm, and left-handed people were regarded as weird and different and therefore suspect. Interesting that the same thing seems to have happened in multiple languages.

[@tehbertl7926]

The fantasy series by Terry Brooks I'm currently reading uses "Shades!" as a swear/exclamation similar in usage to "damn" and it's really grown on me.

[@Glassandcandy]

3:26 - Old English also has “Beewolf” (Beowulf) as a replacement term for Bear. Now it’s only associated with the medieval hero king but originally it was an archaic term for European Brown Bears.

[@mnemosynechun6632]

I'm from Hong Kong and over the years observed a lot of taboos for whatever reasons in the China internet - either for advertisement policy , random bans on social network or so, including the names of historical personalities . the most common replacement is the words with the same sound, or only the consonant of the word (like abbreviates) .. some have eventually being used more commonly than the original word while still evolving in high speed making social networks/online shops all talking like within their cycle. which in contrast aren't the case in Hong kong or Taiwan at least on the internet part

[@blobberberry]

Honestly really excited to see this video show up. Appreciate you hanging such a touchy topic with the proper academic touch.

[@yair4291]

The tabboo of saying God's name in Hebrew goes even another step in writing! the convention is to write "Hashem" as ה׳, but some communities add another layer - and write it as ד׳. another thing is substituting /h/ with /k/ and saying Elohim as Elokim, because ק is very similar to ה. this also happens with YHWH, with people refering to that name as "yud ke vav ke" for "yud he vav he" - י-ה-ו-ה

[@SiKedek]

Yeah - even locative demonstratives can undergo euphemism, as is the case in Japanese: the usual distal demonstrative, asoko [あそこ] 'over there; over yonder', can be used as a euphemism for one's nether regions - sort of like when English speakers use "down there" to denote that region. The stark difference in this regard between English and Japanese is that most English speakers will not be reluctant to use "down there" for actual directional orientation, whereas in Japanese, asoko is nowadays avoided when at all possible; instead, speakers use mukou [向こう] as the preferred distal demonstrative, which literally means 'on the other side'.

[@bencaton1514]

Follow-up comment: I'm interested if you've ever heard of the German term “Digga,“ have you? It's emergence seems quite complicated: “Dicker” is an old German second-person pronoun for friend ('dicker Freund' = 'thick' [close/good] friend'), and some dialects seem to naturally pronounce it as "Digga." But its current popularity among young Germans seems to be related to its resemblance to the N-word; it features a lot in rap, for example, in places where the N-word would be used in English.

[@NeurosenkavalierEmilSinclair]

Also wanna add that it was used for quite some time in northern germany (mostly Hamburg) and only came to the rest of germany somewhat recently (maybe 15-20 years ago). So my guess would be, that it existed indepentently from the n word but the similarity helped to popularize it.

[@bencaton1514]

@@NeurosenkavalierEmilSinclair Yeah that's my impression too. Thanks for the local insight!

[@cmcp975]

“Flipp’n Twunt” is one of my current faves.

[@redbirdrally4538]

I once listened to a visiting lecturer from Waco, Texas (Baylor University) say we didn’t know “jack taco” about a subject he was there to discuss. We were Missouri high school debaters, and “jack shit” was obviously audience-inappropriate, at least in public

[@t_ylr]

Growing up Pentecostal and super sheltered I was an adult paying bills long before I let myself say "Goddamn" or any derivatives there of lol

[@DominoPivot]

I'm Canadian and my first language is French. Here in Quebec, we use butchered up religious words to swear, with some words being more taboo than others, and the rules for using them in a sentence are surprisingly complex. It's like we have 10 variants of the F word. That said, I use the F word and a few more English terms (such as $h!t and d4mn) as expletives much more liberally, which caused me some issues when I started playing online games with voice chat on, and met some American kids living in places where those are way more taboo to say. Then I met some Australians and British people who use even more of them 😂. One last amusing bit about bilingualism and taboos: if I was making a talk about the use of the N-word, I could say the French N-words without using a euphemism, but the English one feels so taboo that I would struggle to say it even in an educational context.

[@StillAliveAndKicking_]

Tabernouche. 🙂 30 years ago I lived with some Africans who addressed each other with the N word e.g. Yo ******.

[@simonr-vp4if]

Ha yeah, the fact that we use "tabarouette / tabarnouche / ta' " to avoid saying "tabarnak" is hilarious when you think about it, since there's nothing actually wrong with going full circle and saying "tabernacle" in its original form!

[@DominoPivot]

Alright, if you were curious about specifics, here are a few examples of Canadian French swear words, but you really shouldn't start using them. No, not because you will sound impolite, but because misusing then is going to mark you as a disrespectful foreigner. They are the final boss to master before for can pass as a local. The most common ones are butcherings of the French words for the host, the Christ, the chalice and the tabernacle: osti, crisse, câlisse, tabarnak. The shorter ones can be used as expletives more casually, the longer ones imply anger. All of them can be butchered up even more to form euphemisms: estifi, crime, câline, tabarnouche. But again, most of these butchering carry their own connotations. My father is the only person I ever heard say "tabarneu" as a mild expletive to express slight surprise, disapproval and maybe even empathy, as in "tabarneu, il s'est pas manqué" (literally: "he did not miss himself", said when referring to someone who tripped and fell in a way that looked particularly bad). And of course, we can't mention these words without talking about how some of them can be verbed, adverbed, composed and so on, allowing for colorful phrases like: "Ma blonde vient de me crisser-là, faque câlisse-moi patience avant que je sois en tabarnak après toi en plus mon osti." I would translate that as: "My girl just dumped me, so leave me the fuck alone before I get fucking mad at you too, you prick." But of course, it sounds very silly if I don't replace the swear words with English equivalents, and instead try to butcher up English religious terms in their place: "My girl just Christ-ed up with me, so chalice-me some peace before I get tabernacled at you too, my host." 😂 Fun-but-sad fact: The Canadian French dub of Rick and Morty was cancelled after a single season, likely because it arrived here way too late and people had already seen it in English, but possibly because they were too creative when making Rick swear. To me, Rick in English comes off as mean and irreverent, but in Canadian French he sounds like a rude uncle from a remote village who uses swear words you've never heard in the city. He sounds less like a smart asshole and more like a rube. It's subtle, but it's the kind of thing you might not realize when writing the script. Shame, the acting wasn't bad.

[@StillAliveAndKicking_]

@@DominoPivot Osti de crisse de tabernak! Yeah I lived in Montreal for two years, and I wouldn’t use the Quebec swear words except tabernouche or taberouette. I only use merde in French. Swear words are too complex, one needs to be a very good judge of context and audience to use them safely. I found Quebec swear words very funny at first.

[@RobespierreThePoof]

Dr. Jones a fait une video sur le sujet de la langue francais Quebecois! Il a bien apprendre parler votre langue et je pense qu'il a aussi utilisier ces mots. ;)

[@cserpakbalazs6342]

Just discovered this channel, and I love it. To contribute, I decided that I'm gonna provide examples from Hungarian for each video (If I can find one). I guess nobody cares, but it's fun for me. So let's start with the hungarian word for wolf. It's "farkas", meaning "something with a tail"... yeah I know. By the way, the word for bear is "medve", which is a slavic loanword, and it was mentioned in the video. Or here's another one, this is for replacement: we have the expression "baszd meg", literally meaning "fuck it". It is used very casually in everyday language but it's clearly a swearword. Many people replace it with "basszus" which means "bass", or even with "basszuskulcs" (bass clef). The verb itself ("baszik") is also a great examply for the euphemism treadmill, as it was borrowed from turkic languages so that we can politely talk about sexual intercourse. It replaced the original word totally and took it's place as a swearword.

[@nathanwhite64]

I love minced oaths (words used to replace taboo words). Here's a long list ... Begorrah -> By God Bejabbers -> By Jesus Bleeding heck -> Bloody Hell Blimey -> Blind me Blinking heck -> Bloody Hell By George -> By God By golly -> By God’s body By gosh -> By God By gum -> By God By Jove -> By God Cheese and Rice -> Jesus Christ Chrissakes -> For Christ’s sake Christmas -> Christ Cor blimey -> God blind me Crikey -> Christ Criminy -> Christ Cripes -> Christ Crivvens -> Christ defend us Dad gum -> God damn Dagnabbit -> God damn it Dagnammit -> God damn it Dang -> Damn Dangnabbit -> God damn it Dangnation -> Damnation Darn -> Damn Darnation -> Damnation Doggone -> God damn Drat -> God rot it Egad -> A God For crying out loud -> For Christ’s sake For Pete’s sake -> For St. Peter’s sake For the love of Mike -> For St. Michael’s sake Gadzooks -> God’s hooks Gat Dangit -> God damn it Gee -> Jesus Gee whizz -> Jesus Gee willikers -> Jesus Godfrey Daniel -> God Golly Gee willikers -> Jesus Good garden party -> Good God Good grief -> Good God Goodness gracious -> Good God Gorblimey -> God blind me Gosh -> God Gosh darned -> God damned Heck -> Hell Jason Crisp -> Jesus Christ Jebus -> Jesus Jeepers Creepers -> Jesus Christ Jeez -> Jesus Jeezy Creezy -> Jesus Christ Jehosaphat -> Jesus Jiminy Christmas -> Jesus Christ Jiminy Cricket -> Jesus Christ Judas Priest -> Jesus Christ Land sakes -> For the Lord’s sake Lawks a mercy -> Lord have mercy My goodness -> My God My gosh -> My God Odds-bodkins -> God’s sweet body Sacré bleu -> Sang de Dieu (God’s blood) Sam Hill -> Hell Strewth -> God’s Truth Suffering succotash -> Suffering Saviour Tarnation -> Damnation What in Sam Hill? -> What in damn Hell? Wish to goodness -> Wish to God Zounds -> God’s wounds

[@Mac_an_Mheiriceanaigh]

It's funny I did not realize "Jeepers Creepers" was one of these.

[@revangerang]

My favorites are ones that are self aware and 4th wall breaking like "what the cuss" from The Incredible Mr Fox, and "I need to use the euphemism" from the Grinch Halloween movie lollll

[@Marque3]

I expect you know that "trump" is a euphemism for "fart" in UK English

[@languagejones6784]

@@Marque3 I did NOT know that!

[@anglaismoyen]

​@@languagejones6784 Trump is a weird word. It is indeed a childish euphemism for farting, but it also means to defeat or be superior, like the trump suit in certain card games, and also the game Top Trumps.

[@gcewing]

So one of the candidates in the upcoming US presidential elections is Donald Fart!

[@Barfield-cg7iq]

@@languagejones6784 It is true and kind of childish word. My kids were thrilled when we visited NYC and drove past Trump Tower. We had to explain to the taxi driver why they were laughing so much. He thought it was pretty funny too.

[@MrOtistetrax]

@@languagejones6784 Probably from “trumpet”. I’ve heard people refer to a fart or farting as “(playing the) bum trumpet”.

[@davemiatt1012]

7:45 Thank you for correctly saying “could not care less” 🙏

[@zevelgamer.]

I'm still waiting for part 2 IPA video.

[@zhazhagab0r]

I just watched the consonant video and went hunting for vowels 😢

[@zevelgamer.]

@@zhazhagab0r Fr, I WANNA LEARN THE IPA!!

[@caseycasas2498]

I remember my very very conservative Baptist grandmother using "fiddlesticks" which amused me once I was old enough to realize what she *wasn't* saying

[@alexisericson241]

So... you know how TVs 'bleep' or 'beep' out words? If I really want to swear, I'm bleeping going to do it

[@vincentwinqvist4023]

In lieu of a euphemism, I'll add that in Swedish we're not to speak of the Devil who might then appear, but instead substitute trolls into the expression.

[@pebblebrookbooks4852]

That's actually kinda funny...

[@CarelessMiss]

Something we say in Hebrew is, in order to avoid saying "Zona" (Whore) we recalculate the route midway and zay Zolel(e) Tapukhim which means "Apple devourer". I find this pretty funny. The phrase "apple devourer" doesn't have any special meaning behind aside from sharing the first 3 letters

[@pebblebrookbooks4852]

Kinda works, tho...

[@rudetuesday]

You've helped me crack open puzzlement around an incident I experienced several decades ago: a family friend's daughter is named "Zona", and her name came up in mixed company. The silence was profound.

[@naamashang5107]

My goodness I haven't heard that one in about 40 years… And then it was oranges…

[@naamashang5107]

@@rudetuesday poor girl that's terrible…

[@JonBrase]

"Apple devourer" => possibly a reference to Eve? (Though Adam wasn't exactly innocent of that...)

[@EugeneJ1908]

I could seriously listen to multiple hours on this topic. Heck, I'd pay for it. This is fascinating

[@silverharloe]

In the 70s and 80s I watched a lot of PBS, which meant watching a lot of British shows even though I was in Texas. It took me years to realize references to blood were taboo in England and not just euphemisms.

[@tina-marino]

Hi Dr. Jones, Your video on taboo words was mind-blowing! I appreciate how you break down complex concepts into relatable examples. Keep it up!

[@nicholasnelson3047]

My favorite is Ancient Greeks used Eumenides (The kind ones) instead of Erinyes(Furies) for apotropaic reasons. I was interested in similar rationales for different names for bears.

[@bes03c]

Dr.Jones has been stepping up his editing game lately.

[@ameliepoulain4579]

I am a big fan of « sh…. Sugar ! » or in French « Mer…Credi ! » typical of parents catching themselves just before they swear in front of their kids 😊

[@AdamYorkGregory]

My favourite thing about Scots English is the ad-hoc acquisition of *any* word to replace a taboo word, not to avoid the meaning but to intensify it. Yer Ma's a pencil case. You're a tracksuit I've yet to encounter a word that can't be used.

[@ShanevsDCsniperr]

"Unalive" really bothers me deeply, moreso than other replacement terms for some reason

[@ibalrog]

Well, it's inherently dehumanizing in ways that most of the examples given aren't.

[@orterves]

It's very Newspeak. Double plus ungood

[@LevelUpLanguages-mo3hz]

That's actually a great point. A lot of terms for horrible acts were changed online so people wouldn't get demonetized and these changes became commonplace. Game-end, unalive, pdf, grape.

[@xetsuma]

We already had other, far more respectful and less nonsensical euphemisms for death and killing in common use in English. This one originally came from a joke about censorship. That's actually what bothers me so much about these "TikTok Euphemisms", they started as jokes and therefore feel inherently nonsensical.

[@KatLaurangeArt]

I have kids so I use "son of a biscuit" and "mother of pearl" (or try to, lol)

[@vanaharris4437]

Idk how I found this channel but I love it!

[@languagejones6784]

Glad to hear it!

[@lavenderpants8695]

When i get mad I just yell "Bob Saget!"

[@paulhammond6978]

slipping "forkin shirtballs" in there with all those real life ones was vulcan awesome!

[@spage80]

My mother who was a teenager in the 1950s Didn't swear but when under stress would say the phrase Sugar, Honey, Ice Tea

[@WryAun]

Thanks so much for this! Taboo was one of my favourite areas that got explored in undergrad linguistics, not because it's fun to swear but because of how well it demonstrated the dramatic influence that language can have on people's behaviour and vice versa. Also I really appreciate you spending the emotional energy to carefully navigate a taboo you hold personally to explain clearly for the first time I've ever been able to find, the nuances of the taboo in naming g-d for Jewish communities. I feel better equipped to make sure I'm speaking respectfully around friends, and members of my community who are Jewish now! I suppose a video can only be so long but I guess there's an entire other video's worth of content in how Christians have circumvented taboo in invoking the names of their divine figures inappropriately. From the now more oblique gadzooks up to the less veiled jiminy Christmas. I'd totally watch that video too though if you made it! Have a good one mate! It was great stuff! (My only note would be, sometimes your onscreen text was overlapped by the captions when it appeared at the bottom of the frame. (I appreciate you having out some editing into the captions too since they seemed more accurate than I'd expect from auto-generated ones!)

[@jbejaran]

- Cheese and Crackers!! - Gadzooks!! - "There's a word to describe him that is not used in polite company and I will not utter it here... but it rhymes with 'regarded'." - Narfin'-Blugin' Stickin'-Rickin' Blatter-Spattin'...!! - Mom!! Timmy's masticating in the living room again!

[@jack2453]

I don't know if Americans are familiar with the Dambusters raid, a patriotic high point for Brits in WW2 that inspired a classic 1955 British fiim. Problem is that a key point of the plot turns on the name of the hero's black dog, also the code name for the misson - which last time it was rerun on the BBC had become "Trigger"

[@svkusi]

i get taught rude words as i travel.. this video opens up the need for the workarounds people use too.. i hadnt thought about this!! i like finding when things are mundane in one language but highly offensive in another....

[@Hobbychemiefreak]

11:28 what's the kite emoji thing about? I'm too dense to reverse engineer it without context

[@AbiSaysThings]

Is he Jewish? There is a word I can think of there...

[@adamadamadam83]

High as a kite?

[@ameliakurtz4425]

It's one consonant away from an antisemitic slur

[@replay_rewind]

Subbed single-handedly because of the "neighbor" replacement. I've been using that for years. When I was in my partying days, I would say "What's gucci my neighbors?"

[@richardlandrum1966]

There was an episode of "the Tick" from the 90s where Tick and Aurtur find an unknown device and activate it accidentally. After a bright flash they find themselves in the desert, as giant lizard lumbers passed them. Aurthur says, "I know that creature. Its a mega.... mega.....mega...... megaladon. That device must be a time machine." Looking down at the now destroyed pile of electronics, Tick says, "well, it used to be a time machine, but it got crushed by Mega mega mega." My "squad" from then on, would utter the phrase, "it used to be a time machine" whenever they wanted to call someone fat, without calling them fat. I suppose that falls under inside joke instead of taboo replacement, but i haven't thought about it in years, and it was the first thing that came to mind after watching.

[@JerseyMiller]

That show was the best. My favorite character was Deflator Mouse, who later became Batmanuel in the live action series. Favorite scene was when the little fish kid says that deflator mouse told his mom he'd bring him back by dinner. Deflator mouse says "I told your mom a lot of things" 😅

[@richardlandrum1966]

@JerseyMiller Yeah, I was unhappy with his name change in the live action. "Die Fledermaus" was perfect. It's German for "the bat" and also the name of an opera.

[@terpman]

I always liked how Battlestar Galactica used "frak" to circumvent censors in 1978.

[@CirclingDuck]

Baal is actually much older than the Philistines. He was an ancient Canaanite god, who entered the early Jewish pantheon as a storm god before Judaism eventually transformed into a monotheistic religion.

[@twobluestripes]

i’m from northern california, and at least when i was younger, “hella” was considered a regionalism (for anyone wondering, it’s an intensifier, and i believe it’s an abbreviation for “a hell of a…”), as in “that show was hella good”. but lots of kids were not allowed to or didn’t like to swear or say the word hell, and instead used the widely-known substitute “heck”. so in my home town and region, that gave rise to “hecka”. i always said both “hella” and “hecka” just out of habit because they were both used a lot by my peers, but when i went to southern california for college, people who had heard of hella and would gently rib me about if were often surprised by “hecka”, thought it sounded dumb, and teased me quite a bit for it! it later gave rise to the meme slang “heckin’” which was a set or words and way of talking that was related to the “doge” meme and continues in other “doggo” and “puppers” talk spaces.

[@HarmoneaSinn]

Ever since I learned a particularly rude insult in Mandarin was homophonic with a popular western restaurant, I've wished I knew enough language nerds to make "I'm thinking Arby's" into a whole new thing. But I'm not generally the type to do these avoidances. I'm either comfortable enough to say it loud and proud, or I'm being professional and wouldn't go near enough to need a substitute. Though I might occasionally break out a "🤬ing" with my boss when we're both in rant mode.

[@artugert]

Do you mean 二屄?

[@jamesvalente3709]

Recently found your channel; subscribed right away, and am starting to get hooked. You do a damn fine job with language and I love it Thank you!

[@violet_broregarde]

Was hoping you were gonna talk about innocuous words that get effectively deleted because they sound taboo, like that one synonym for miserly, although I guess the 15th being 9+6 rather than 10+5 because it's too close to the name is pretty close

[@Barc112]

10:05 Can confirm. My great-grandfather was called Dokotela. This also happens to be the word we use to translate the English word "doctor". In order to avoid saying this, my grandmother would refer to a Western-style medical doctor using the workaround 'inyanga yabelungu' which means 'a white person's shaman/"witchdoctor"healer'. You also find that people with surnames that are common objects e.g. Lubisi (milk) or Nkomo (cow) or Ndlela (pathway, but also journey) will use archaic or unusual alternative names for those things. Out of respect for the ancestor who bore that name. For example, 'intusi' for milk or 'inyathuko" for pathway/road.

[@jacksontaylorh]

“Ay carumba!” in Spanish is avoiding the more vulgar “pa’l carajo!”

[@irrelevantpanda]

Question: in the late 90s while visiting friends down south, i saw a variety of items at truck stops that said things like "Virginia is for Canadians" which utterly confused me. Many years later I learned that for at least that time "Canadians" was used as a racist replacement for the n word. Do you think that was the same idea as "neighbor" given the sounds in the middle of the word? It seems to not be in use anymore to my knowledge but at that specific time and place was popular enough to have merch in a lot of rest stops and gas stations along 95 South.

[@MattR963]

In Ireland we sometimes say feck instead of fuck. Interestingly the irish verb feic (pronounced feck) means to see

[@patrickhodson8715]

I think it’s fair to say y’all almost have the monopoly on “shite” as well

[@MattR963]

@@patrickhodson8715 sounds about right 😂

[@Thesilliestofthemall77]

Oh yeah! My dad does this a ton, didnt realise it wasnt common

[@Mac_an_Mheiriceanaigh]

I don't think anyone thinks "feck" or "shite" are any better than the originals. It's just a particularly Irish way to say them...

[@MattR963]

@@Mac_an_Mheiriceanaigh yeah feck sounds a lot more friendly 😅

[@SpookiestAlice]

I've been a fan of using "jeepers creepers" instead of swearing. I don't work retail anymore and I swear like a sailor, but it's handy. As a big SFF person I often find like, fantasy replacements for swears to be kind of... immersion breaking, I suppose. I find it generally pretty cheap as far as worldbuilding goes, though now I'm thinking about how it'd be funny if it turned out that those were euphemisms for the actual words. I'm also reminded of the time Hasbro were like "i dunno guys" about two writers using "spawn of a glitch" in a comic (one that was about war crimes) because its too close to an actual swear. the writers argued their case, the line was left in, and then a few years later one of those writers was able to have a character just flat out call someone a son of a bitch.

[@keithmoore3199]

Interesting video. I'm afraid I didn't get the kite emoji reference though.

[@AdonisMediaProductions]

it sounds like "kike" . yeah unfortunately there are a lot of fucked up people online.

[@dcseain]

Horsepucky was a favorite one from one of my grandmothers.

[@dmilgate2713]

"Bull twinkies" in lieu of BS was a favorite of a childhood acquaintance. Which reminds me of a humorous view of advanced education at the local, huge university. "You know why they call those degrees B.S., M.S., and PhD? The first one is Bull***t, the second is More S**t, and the last one is Piled Higher and Deeper."

[@lemonZzzzs]

Do we have documented evidence that the old words like "bear" and some words for wolf are actual _taboo_ words and not just an evolution of a multi-word designation? Say, originally you'd describe everything as the local word for "horned beast," "brown beast/predator," "gray beast/predator," "sneaky beast/predator" etc., but then drop the second word as it's obvious from the context, ending up with horned one, brown one, gray one, etc. I mean, we have more modern examples of non-taboo evolution like this for words like truck, bus, etc.

[@MrOtistetrax]

Relating to this, but conversely, the Japanese word for gray literally translates to “rat-colored”

[@guibibeau]

You will like this one since you studied Canadian french: My grandfather would say "Takernak" instead of Tabarnak" or "quecriss" inteast of criss.

[@Maurice-Navel]

My best friend and I had a graduation dinner put on by both sets of parents. I'm Jewish, they're not, so Mrs. McGillicuddy did not know that "schmuck" was still nasty for my Jewish mom. My mom certainly did not want to take offense but she did drop her fork.

[@carolinejames7257]

I've always found the extreme lengths to which Americans in particular will go when it comes to taboo words rather mindblowing. Now, there are all kinds of taboo words, with considerable cultural variation about what you can and can't say. I get that. I'm also fully aware that some cultures have far more hangups about taboo words and swearing than my own (I'm Australian). Some Australians DO get bent out of shape about it, but they're a minority. We do still have some taboo words, though. And when I was a child it was quite different, although it was generally the case that women and children (especially girls) couldn't use those words, but men could. Although not in mixed company. An American woman who was a fellow guild member took it upon herself to criticise my language and demanded (rather than requested) that I stop. She told me I had 'a potty mouth' and should be ashamed of myself. I wasn't. What struck me - and I still remember all these years (well over a decade) later - wasn't just her problem with my swearing, it was that she couldn't even say - politely or otherwise - "don't swear" or "don't curse". She had to use a baby talk euphemism (potty mouth) to replace the word swearing. As for my favourite taboo words or euphemisms thereof, I'm especially fond of two. The first is 'struth! (sometimes written as strewth!), which is a contraction of God's truth and can be used in almost any situation. It's pithy, versatile, and it feels quintessentially Australian. The other is ankles, and is an insult, a term applied to a person you detest, despise, or think is the scum of the earth. It can be used as an adjective, or as a proper noun, and it's taboo nature is well-hidden. When yuou call someone Ankles, the unspoken connotation is that they're 3 feet lower than a c*nt, and they're so low that even slugs (or other repulsive creatures that're down there on the ground) can look down on them. 🤫🤬

[@rayafoxr3]

It seems the dislike of swearing is rapidly declining in American culture.

[@mathieulalonde]

I like fake sci-fi terms like "Smeg", "Frak" and "What's the matter, McFly? Got no scrote?" 😀

[@timseguine2]

I am pretty sure "scrote" is not a "fake sci-fi term" but short for scrotum.

[@gcewing]

Smeg is also an Italian home appliance manufacturer, which makes their TV ads very amusing to Red Dwarf fans.

[@skeleletonboi4533]

where I'm at (Vic, Australia) Smeg refers to dick cheese, so if you want to say someone is gross you say they have smeggy dick

[@BZanders]

as someone from south yorkshire, "bugger shucks" is close to my heart! it's used to Specifically express disappointment/sympathy over something that's happened!

[@ObeyCamp]

I'm fascinated by the idea of "swear words" because of how we think of and treat them compared to what they actually are, objectively, independent of what we know about social interactions. What they are, and what we treat them like, are to profoundly different things, and that's extremely interesting to me. Objectively, swear words are no more than mouth noises. They don't have their own intentions or drives and therefore cannot be "good" or "bad." There are no "bad words" just like there are no "good words." They're just noises. Nobody bats an eye at the vast majority of the noises my mouth can make, but there are a small handful of mouth noises you can make that cause people to generate an internal emotional reaction. Not only do these people generate an emotional reaction, but they also then blame you for the reaction they've chosen to allow themselves to generate internally. That's strange when you think about it. Words don't offend me like that, personally. Only a person's intentions really and truly have that power in my mind. But I'm still respectful and do what I can to avoid offending people who have different feelings about mouth noises. The entire thing is objectively pretty insane when you consider it independently of what we know about social interactions and compassion and decency. These things fascinate me.

[@Panda-gx2rs]

There is always intention behind what you say. You're not a caveman who's just making mouth noises if someone always reffered to you as r slur instead of your name or pronounce that is not just them making mouth noises. Words, sentences, communication everything has context .

[@lmeeken]

Strange that you describe language as a bunch of value-neutral "mouth noises" while: A.) Using language to convey meaning (hm, it appears not just swwwr words so this. Perhaps it's a fundamental feature of language.) B.) Not making any 'moutth noises' at all (unless you speak aloud as you type) Just to be clear - there is nothing 'objective,' or even internally consistent about your take on language here.

[@Lensmaster1]

I agree for the most part. Bad words are those that we as a group decide we shouldn't use. That's why in different cultures, different words are looked down on, because that is the choice of that group.

[@bigbrotherbeane]

I have been using "neighbor" for awhile now, and I gotta say, it works great while rapping along to my favorite songs.

[@JustLooking]

Why would a kite emoji be offensive? Genuinely puzzled here.

[@silverharloe]

kite sorta rhymes with a slur for Jewish people. Presumably there was no bicycle emoji that satisfied the kind of people who want to use such slurs. the emoji isn't offensive in a proper context, but when used to refer to a person, it's a kind of "tell me you're a bigot without telling me" marker

[@MorbidGnome]

"Kite" is one letter off from a slur used to refer to Jewish people.

[@Asha2820]

I try, as much as I can, to avoid contributing to the stigmatisation of words. Many people can use beautiful words to say something cruel and ugly. Many people use taboo words to express camaraderie or important ideas. I hope when people listen to what I say, they hear the meaning and not the utterance.

[@dvk429]

In Russian, the "bear" is translated as "медведь" which is a composition of "мёд" (honey) + "ведать" (an archaic verb than means "to know" or "to experience") that literally means "honey taster" or "the one who knows about honey" instead of "honey eater". Disclaimer: not a linguist, just a native speaker.

[@x89417]

Wrong, it is in fact "honey eater". "Honey knower" is a folk etymology.

[@pebblebrookbooks4852]

I want to read Winnie the Pooh in Russian now!!

[@SkorjOlafsen]

@@x89417 "Folk etymology" does not mean what you think it means.