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yendiI listened to language/linguistics podcasts on my walk in this morning. One of them was the episode of Slate's Lexicon Valley featuring an interview with Melissa Mohr, whose book Holy Sh*t is about the history of swearing. It's fascinating on all sorts of fronts -- the talk about Roman use of body parts as insults based on their own sense of sexual propriety (put simply: It's better to be a pitcher than a catcher, which probably tells you everything you need to know about their society in regards to gender roles; there's likely a reason that the most prominent hater of women on the interwebs these days uses a Latin name.)
But the Roman stuff is only the beginning.
In the process of the interview, it comes out that Robert Browning's use of the lines
in his poem "Pippa Passes" weren't out of any attempt to be vulgar, but rather because he had read the lines
in an old satirical poem, and Browning, having been raised without any sense of what the word meant, assumed it was another word for "wimple."
Better yet, because Victorian times were prudish to an extend seen neither before nor since, no one who realized Browning's mistake could point it out.
I suspect there's a bit of embellishment in the latter -- Mohr notes that embarrassment over cursing has always been a middle-class concern, as the poor have never had a problem with it, and the lords likewise were just fine doing so -- but I do find it fascinating.
But the Roman stuff is only the beginning.
In the process of the interview, it comes out that Robert Browning's use of the lines
Then owls and bats
Cowls and twats
Monks and nuns in a cloister's moods
Adjourn to the oak-stump pantry
in his poem "Pippa Passes" weren't out of any attempt to be vulgar, but rather because he had read the lines
They talk'd of his having a Cardinall's Hat
They'd send him as soon an Old Nun's Twat
in an old satirical poem, and Browning, having been raised without any sense of what the word meant, assumed it was another word for "wimple."
Better yet, because Victorian times were prudish to an extend seen neither before nor since, no one who realized Browning's mistake could point it out.
I suspect there's a bit of embellishment in the latter -- Mohr notes that embarrassment over cursing has always been a middle-class concern, as the poor have never had a problem with it, and the lords likewise were just fine doing so -- but I do find it fascinating.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-06-25 01:50 am (UTC)I'm totally gonna put that book on my To Read list!