Why we curse-What the @#$%?


	Why we curse-What the @#$%?

psinexus

10-11-2007 10:02 AM

581 views

tags:

swear, curse, interseting

psinexus says:

In English-speaking countries today, religious swearing barely raises an eyebrow. Gone with the wind are the days when people could be titillated by a character in a movie saying "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."...

IN DEPTH ANALYSIS AT
http://www.tnr.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20071008&s=pinker100807

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/efe22b5a-f005-460f-8dda-aad9c2e0d9f0/296A0C68-7CD2-4EB6-9B9E-02F69D506C27/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.tnr.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20071008&s=pinker100807" href="http://www.tnr.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20071008&s=pinker100807" style="font-size: 11px;">www.tnr.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.tnr.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20071008&s=pinker100807"><div align="center"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.tnr.com/img/E877E4D1-B731-4B0F-A9C5-F6B62F3B9B21" alt="The New Republic Online" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.tnr.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20071008&s=pinker100807"><H2 class="articlesub">Why we curse.</H2></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.tnr.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20071008&s=pinker100807"><H1>What the F***?</H1></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.tnr.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20071008&s=pinker100807"><SPAN class="author">by Steven Pinker</SPAN></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.tnr.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20071008&s=pinker100807"><FONT class="content">Post date: 10.09.07
Issue date: 10.08.07
</FONT></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.tnr.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20071008&s=pinker100807"><SPAN class="location">he strange emotional </SPAN>power of swearing--as well as the presence of linguistic taboos in all cultures--
suggests that taboo words tap into deep and ancient parts of the brain. In general, words have not just a denotation but a connotation: an emotional coloring distinct from what the word literally refers to, as in <I>principled</I> versus <I>stubborn</I> and <I>slender</I> versus <I>scrawny</I>. </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.tnr.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20071008&s=pinker100807"><SPAN class="location">he historical root</SPAN> of swearing in English and many other languages is, oddly enough, religion. We see this in the Third Commandment, in the popularity of <I>hell</I>, <I>damn</I>, <I>God</I>, and <I>Jesus Christ</I> as expletives, and in many
of the terms for taboo language itself: <I>profanity</I> (that which is not sacred), <I>blasphemy</I> (literally "evil speech" but, in practice, disrespect toward a deity), and <I>swearing</I>, <I>cursing</I>, and <I>oaths</I>, which originally were secured by the invocation of a deity or one of his symbols.</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/296A0C68-7CD2-4EB6-9B9E-02F69D506C27/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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