I was just reading tornwordo's blog and watching a video he'd included. He was trying to get his partner to cooperate, and his partner ("spouse," as he calls him--since he's in Canada, unlike New York, such things are possible) eventually swore at him (in a cute way, not a mean way). He used the word "chalice" as a curse word.
Chalice? That's a profanity?
One of the commenters helped those of us who were confused by this by linking to this article. Apparently, "[i]n French-speaking Quebec, swearing sounds like an inventory being taken at a church." The Quebecois were under strong Catholic influence for a long time, and... "'You swear about things that are taboo,'" said André Lapierre, a professor of linguistics at the University of Ottawa. In the United States, 'it is not appropriate to talk about sex or scatological subjects, so that is what you use in your curse words. The f-word is a perfect example.'"
Louise Lamarre, a Montreal cinematographer said, "In America, you are so Puritan that the swearing is mostly about sex. Here, since we were repressed so long by the church, people use religious terms."
Interesting.
3 comments:
Yes that article was quite interesting. It's so weird too, because on tv and radio they have no problem borrowing the f word and using it freely. This is kind of jarring for an English speaker as you can imagine. But whatever you do, don't say tabarnacle. That is the worst curse word here, and it always gets a reaction.
I didn't mis-spend my youth nearly enough--I passed a lot of it as an altar boy at our parish church (no, I didn't get hit on by any priests). I could probably curse like a champ up there with tornwordo and Serge. I know what a Monstrance is, what a Ciborium is, and I'd just love to throw those terms around!
wow...that is really fascinating...
i was in a lecture class once in which the prof was discussing language and how the most prominent/important things in the lives of a society are reflected in language. the most obvious (yet untrue) example is how the eskimo have over 100 words for snow.
with that in mind...she then explained that a lot of american language revolves around money...
humans are such odd creatures...
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