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Show The Salt Lake Tribune NATION Sunday,May2,1999 AS Cussing like crap the whole gameandyell at me and swear at me, I'm proba- besides making others feel bad. “I've always liked the line that Clarence Darrow said in the stars out of comedians Chris Rock to your foreign ears. Example: Poppycock. It may soundfrightfully British misms have given us some of the it's actually an adaptation of pap- them: SamHill, Geez O. Pete, Judas Priest and twins Jiminy and GeeminyCricket, and their twin was madepopular in the 1850s by Cleveland Plain Dealer writer Charles F. Brown, under the pen name “Artemis Ward.” blast. So it will be, linguists say, with profane thoughts: They'll survive, either in their vulgar form or cloaked by euphemism. guise a vile message in euphemisms. Christmas. pressed in another language. Even knowing that, bumper stickers with “Poppycock Happens” don’t quite have the same impact as the four-letter-word variety. mean — just like we do now. Says University of Illinois linguist Baron: “Languagehas to express emotions, right? So you just Stirs Critics And Foul Mouths Scopestrial: ‘I don’t swear just bly not going to show you much respect, either.” for the hell of it,’ " says professor Dennis Baron, a linguist and head of the Universityof Ilinoi: ng: Harvard-educated Vukonich sometimes falls prey to frustra- @ Continued from A-1 have an effect.” lyingif I said I didn’t.” see in a family newspaper ble such sounds as to figure out their common, sacri- words areoff-limits. He passed on ticularly heinous combinations. Pop-cultureimmortality for them theidea. words, the kids will come up with No. 501 ‘The kids know — and we know was assured in 1973 when a New York radio station broadcast the Carlin monologueat2 o'clock on a Tuesdayafternoonin October. Those terms ought to be fam: ous: We'vebeen spewingthemfor centuries, linguists say. Some American and British vulgarities —so commonthey're spoxenreg. ularly on television — are rooted in Old or Middle English and date back 1,600years. An example: The “b-word (think: “Melr lace”’) The Old English hadasimilar term, biece, which had similar meanings: a female dog or woman of low repute. Thecurrent spelling has been considered coarse sincethe early 1800s, In his 14th-centurypiece “The Miller's Tale,” Chaucer chose a then-nasty euphemism for a wom. an’s behind; 200 years later Shakespeare used a variation of the most offensive reference to copulation Aphrase so popularit’s recog- nizedby its initials is s.o.b. Chris- tened by A Dictionaryof Euphe. misms & Other Doubletalk as the Great American Euphemism,” the lengthy jab seems to have surfaced about a decade before the Civil War. English-speaking people have noexclusiveon indelicate expression. Virtuallyevery languagehas cursing, or at least repulsive in- humannature, the very psyche of the humanbeing,” Samuel! Obeng, an assistan professor of linguistics at Indiana University. “These words reflect the kind of emotions that we go through Actually, it’s primate nature The 98 percent of DNA that hu mans share with apes apparently includes the profanity gene Anyone who's ever irritated Kokothegorilla knows firsthand we'renot the only mammals who lic airwaves, including somepar- patience is thread-bare is one of her favorite s researcher Marilyn She's called me Matevia let.’ Most people here have been called ‘toilet Koko's repertoire of disparag ing remarks includes “nut,” “rot ten stink” and the more severe dirty toilet devil.” Matevia says the gorilla was taught the individ ual words, but it was Koko who used them as nasty Since cursing seems to cut across there makes And, after all, impact is the cockroach or two that survives a Andwewill all know what we can’t getrid of them.” Five yearslater —ontheeveof lic airwaves. Ofcourse,the power isn’t in the syllables themselves. Every wordis an innocent col- JOIN US FOR A SPECIAL EVENT FEATURING lection of sounds,” Obeng says. “It's society that places restric tions on whetherthey can bespo. ken. Ah, but those very restrictions stoke the flames. If the words weren't taboo, they wouldn't be potent enough to spark a Su- “GARDEN DANCE” preme Court debate or get you fired for yelling them at your boss. As evidence Hensley- Mars- chandlargely credi ng ban at Southport High with calming teen-age temperaments so much that behavior problems have declined about 30 percent AN EXCLUSIVE FIGURINE since last year At the same time, if society didn't frown on those words, ZCMI is proud io offer this new Special Edition figurine as our hearthem, and comicslike Eddie Murphy wouldn't bemillionaires exclusive for this event. + Garden Dancewill be available gets for cheap laughs. Your joke is dying? Throw in anexpletive for purchase only during this memorable Lladré event and you'}l at least get some chuck les. “There's sort of agiggle aspect to dirty words,” Baronsays. “It say-this-in-public value. ® This exceptional figurine was strictly limited quantities and comeswith a unique commemorative backstamp. McDonaldhas another theory Please visit our ZCMI Gift Gallery for details. has a shock value; it’s an I-can- Indianapolis playwright ‘Tony They're irresistible because we were founded by the Puri tans,” he says. “Wehavea very polite and structuredsociety, so Garden Dance 01006580, 9"x4", we're attracted to the darker $250 ZCMIClub Plan: Nobodydoesit better. With your Lladro purchase of $150 or more, you may take side. Sometimes, the darker blue the language, the more the recipient competition Hockey player Mike Vukonich, when he: r In other words, they're not euphemismsin their native tongue,just movementis successful, and cursing disappears from our public vocabulary. There is always a U.S. SupremeCourtruledthecomedian had aptly described those words: Theydon’t belong on pub- lowlandape has been conversing called them names, particularly “gol-dangit and “gosh-darnit” pekak, a Dutch word for dung. It spurring a lawsuit searchers at the Gorilla Foun dation near San Francisco. On more than a few occasions, she’s through sign language with re are merely the same idea ex- and delightfully nonsensical, but point. Suppose this anti-swearing the Fourth of July, no less — the sees red. Pro sports games could be televised in black-and-white andyou would still seethat. Dirty lobinsults For most of her 27 years, the dag-nabbit” and Geeminy Then again, some euphemisms , are,” he says. cousins, Jiminy Butit's pretty easy to unseram- dirty words you can't say on pub- — what those big-time words biggest namesin cussing. Among Somefolks think they can dis- Court. The satirist made famous seven A few Southport parents “If you make alist of 500 and AndrewDice Clay, euphe- tion. “I trynot to swear,but I'd be lish Department “You want to Marschand shouldspell out which thought Principal Larry Hensley. Just as curse words have made Despite his bestintentions, the GeorgeCarlin sure madean impression on the U.S. Supreme The kind you don’t expect to legious root. trash talkin’ ratches up the already tense emotions of pure up to 24 months to pay with no finance charge when payments are made as scheduled. Peace oF MIND WITH THE LLADA ASSURANCE PROGRAM” captain of the Indianapolis Ice tries like heck to hold his tongue in a game known morefor spit than polish. Regardless of the sport, athletes wholet ‘er rip — especially at referees — risk tip: ping the scales in their opponents: favor, he says “There's no question that hap. 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