Welcome to the Street Prophets Coffee Hour cleverly hidden at the intersection of religion, art, science, food, and politics. This is an open thread where we can share our thoughts and comments about the day. Let’s talk about forbidden words.
Many languages, perhaps most, have certain words which are not supposed to be spoken or used in certain contexts. For example, in many cultures there are words and expressions which men are not supposed to use when women are present. These forbidden words and expressions are generally an expression of society’s values. Thus, in cultures in which men and women are supposed to participate in different social, religious, and economic spheres, there may be gender-related prohibitions against certain words and phrases. However, not all forbidden words have gender limitations.
Tabooed or forbidden words may be a cultural universal. In his book The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature, Steven Pinker writes:
“But despite the variation across time and space, it’s safe to say that most languages, probably all, have emotionally laden words that may not be used in polite conversation.”
Steven Pinker also writes:
“Claims that profanity is lacking altogether in a particular language have to be taken with a grain of salt.”
In their textbook Language in Thought and Action, S.I Hayakawa and Alan R. Hayakawa write:
“In every language, there seem to be certain ‘unmentionables’—words of such strong affective connotations that they cannot be used in polite discourse.”
In some cultures, words may be seen as having magical properties and forbidden words may be a part of word magic. Certain words may be used only in incantations and spells. Thus, using these magical words in the wrong context can result in harm to both speaker and listener. In his book Origins of the English Language: A Social and Linguistic History, Joseph Williams reports:
“The Egyptians, for example, gave everyone two names, a public name and a secret one; they believed if someone knew a person’s real name, he would have power over the person. In other cultures, word-magic takes the form of taboos against uttering the name of a god, or the name of certain relatives, or even words that sound like those words.”
With regard to forbidden words as a form of word magic, S.I Hayakawa and Alan R. Hayakawa write:
“The primitive confusion of word with thing, of symbol with thing symbolized, manifests itself in some parts of the world in a belief that the name of a person is part of that person. To know someone’s name, therefore, is to have power over him.”
The strongest word prohibitions are taboos. In his book Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society, Peter Trudgill writes:
“Taboo can be characterized as being concerned with behavior which is believed to be supernaturally forbidden, or regarded as immoral or improper; it deals with behavior which is prohibited or inhibited in an apparently irrational manner. In language, taboo is associated with things which are not said, and in particular with words and expressions which are not used.”
In American culture, tabooed words can easily be seen in watching television and paying attention to the number of words which have been censored. English-language materials produced for British audiences often have to be heavily censored to get past American officials such as the Federal Communications Commission. Peter Trudgill writes:
“In the English-speaking world, the most severe taboos are now associated with words connected with sex, closely followed by those connected with excretion and the Christian religion.”
In his book The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got That Way, Bill Bryson writes:
“After OK, fuck must be about the most versatile of all English words.”
In cultures in which there are tabooed or forbidden words, it is common to use euphemisms to get around using these words. In nineteenth-century English, it was not considered polite to mention most aspects of human anatomy when women were present. For example, it was not permissible to say “leg” in mixed company, so the euphemism “limb” was used instead. Similarly, one had to talk about the “limb of the table.”
One way of using euphemisms to get around forbidden words is the minced oath. For example, in English, “God” becomes “gosh,” “hell” becomes “heck,” and “damnation” becomes “tarnation.” In a similar vein, the rather antiquated phrase “God’s wounds” turns into “zounds.” West Virginia University Professor of Linguistics Kirk Hazen, in an essay in The Conversation, writes:
“This lexical skirting of religious sensitivities falls in the category of expressions known as “minced oaths.” They are a kind of euphemism: an indirect expression substituted to soften the harsher blow of the profane.”
Kirk Hazen also writes:
“Both slang and minced oaths are forms of synonyms – words used to replace others while conveying the same core meaning. But minced oaths have historically performed a very specific role: providing a weakened but socially acceptable form of an actual religious oath, swear or curse.”
Profanity involves using words for which there is a religious taboo and profanity is more likely to be forbidden in certain social settings. In his textbook Language, Culture, and Society: An Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology, Zdenek Salzmann writes:
“Profane or coarse speech is less likely to be heard when children or people held in respect are within earshot, and a job interview calls for a more considered vocabulary than casual conversation between two close friends.”
In some cultures, it is taboo to use the names of deceased people. In these cultures, geographic features and places are not named after people.
Language is constantly changing, and forbidden words change over time. Zdenek Salzmann writes:
“Over time, the vocabulary of any language undergoes changes. Those words that become subject to taboo disappear either permanently or for a period of time, and euphemisms replace them.”
Open Thread
This is an open thread—all topics are welcome.