The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1890-10-02
IF YOU SWEAR
You May he Interested to Know What
Your Cuss Words Mean

You May Bs Interested to Know wha,
Your Cuss Words Mem.
"You need not have looked severe
because said that 1 didn't care O dam,"
said gruff old Senator. "That is moi
swearing. The expression has O very
different meaning from what is popu
larly supposed, and was originated by
the Duke of Wellington. A dam III
India is the smallest piece of money
known, and not to care that much
means simply that one is very indiffer'
ent. That was all the phrase was in,
tended to signify. The word damn
from the Latinl verb meaning to con,
demn, is q very different thing. Curl,
ousiy enough it seems almost invariably
to be the first word in our language
acquired by foreigners, and it has al,
WAYS been such q favorite with tho
English that in the last century tho
French always referred to them as the
'Goddams. A distinguished Gallo
writer of that epoch said that English.
was beautiful tongue and that God.
dam was the basis of it. People OF
thut nation, he remarked, have O few
other words which they use in CONVEX
sation, but the principal one is God
dam. You can go anywhere in Eng
land if you know that
"a funny misapprehension also exists
as to the expression Go to the Deuce
People generally suppose that deuce
means devil, whereas, as o matter of
fact, it is derived directly from the
Latin 'Deus'-'God.' So, when any
one is telling you to go to the deuce he
is upconsciously uttering the best Of
good wishes for your welfare.
Speaking Of Latin reminds me that
among the ancient Romans it was con-
sidered the thing for each man to have
some particular god to habitually swear
by. Some swore by Jupiter, others by
Mars, others still by Minerva, and so
on. The demi-gods. like Hercules,
Castor and Pollux, wore a'so made
use of in the way of oaths. Castor and
Pollux were usually appealed to as tho
Twins - by Gemini! - the phrase
whence we get our exclamation BY
Jimmy 1t was not thought very
proper for Roman ladies to swear by
the male gods, but they were permitted
to take the names of the Twins in vain,
and also especially that of Venus. In
moments of great aGgravation they
might 90 so far as to cry 'Mecastorp-.'
by Castorr The Greeks swore by tho
cabbage, which was The most priced OF
vegetables, and even TO this day tho
same oath is often heard in Italy, whi o
in France lover is being intensely af-
fectionate when he calls the lady of his
heart petit chou, or little cabbage.
by Jingo' is from Jincoa, the Basque
name for God. Barbarous tribes have
been accustomed to swear by the head
of their ruler. Queen Elizabeth was
said to have been q very hard swearer,
as ladies were very apt to be i'll her
day. Louis N of France forbade tho
use by his courtiers of such oaths as
'Pardieu,' 'Cordieu,' 'Tetedieu, and 80
on. There CHANGED to belong to one
of the ladies of the court small ret
dog named 'Bleu.' The courtiers made
up their minds to swear by the dog in
stead of the deity, and hence came the
parbleus and corbleus of later times.
Pythagorus had o favorite oath, which
most people would consider not suffi-
ciently forcible to be satisfactory. He
swore by the number four, which the
Greeks regarded as symbolizing per-
faction"