A WARNING: This post is almost entirely about swear words. I am writing about them in an analytical way, but if you have an issue with that then don't read this post. :) Also, short post is short. Sorry about that.
I have a slight fascination with the way swear words sound. More than any other category of lexis, expletives are phonetically suited to their purpose.
"Fuck" is a fricative word, while "shit" is a sibilant -- a particular subset of fricatives. These produce a hissing sound which is generally a result of anger or spite.
"Twat", "dick", "prick", and "bastard" (as well as, I believe, "crap" and "cunt") all begin and end with plosive sounds. These are hard, aggressive sounds.
It's also true that most expletives are monosyllabic; obviously, this is to add power to the words.
Interesting! Great post, despite short post being short! ;]
ReplyDeleteI read an article about psychology that said that expletives may tend to be monosyllabic because when someone is angry, higher thinking processes are reduced and more "primal" centres of the brain are activated, i.e. reverting back to our more aggressive and primal origins, which has clear evolutionary benefits.
And your comments regarding the English Language being almost a "historical document" is clearly demonstrated by this!
ReplyDeleteWith regards to plosive words, in Spanish, most expletives begin with the letter p: puta, polla, puneta, paja, pendejo, etc.
There's also evidence to suggest that swearing increases pain tolerance, while we're on the topic.
ReplyDeleteI like how we'd posted about the same thing, sorry I didn't read your comment before I posted! ;)
DeleteAnd one final thing, in relation to the psychology article I read, there is a journal article that has shown that swearing increases the tolerance of pain - but only if not used very often. I believe this may be related to what I mentioned earlier as the act of swearing may cause adrenaline to be released, and adrenaline reduces the sense of pain. Perhaps swearing too often does not elicit this swearing-adrenaline response and this may also be the reason why if you observe someone in pain swearing, some new words are coined right on the spot, pretty much turning into a Shakespeare in one second! ;)
ReplyDeleteI like the concept of briefly transforming into Shakespeare after stubbing your toe and yelling gibberish.
ReplyDelete