St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-03-04
An Ing uiry Into the Philoso-
ply Of Polite and Impo-
lite Profanity.
Why Lovely Woman Does Not
Have to Swear So Much as
Brutal Man.
The Letter D Considered as
the Beginning Of an Excel
lent Explosive.
Among the Fair Sex Oaths
Are Usually Stifled by
Scalding Tears.


There is swearing and swearing-tha
| is, profane swearing and swearing
without being profane. There is ours
| ing and ''cursing," between which the
| difference is wide and well marked, but
| the whole lot is under the ban of moral
law, says the Pittsburg Commercial
| Gazette.
Profane language is impolite, no mat
| ter what the circumstances are; besides,
| it is unnecessary, and has demoraliz-
| ing effect on all who indulge in its use.
| 1t is forbidden by the law, because the
| name of God is sacred, and should only
be used with reverence.
| CurSing was forbidden because it was
| not intended that man should curse his
| fellows. AS a judge he may condemn
| his fellows, but it is not for him to
curse. This was reserved for higher
| power.
We have come to recognize distinc-
ton between dam-lng and damn-ing.
| The latter means to condemn. while the
| former doesn't mean anything in par
| ticular-a sort of innocuOus expression.
| The philosophy of this seems to be
| that at times the pressure of nervous
| energy becomes SO great that man
| feels as though he would explode. He
| finds great relief in the utterance of
| few sharp explosives. These, to be
effective, must fit his tongue and carry
with them the greatest possible amount
| of energy.
The letter D appears to fill the con-
| ditOnS of real explosive title better
| thop apv othar acnaoia llv wi G N followed
| by long "a" upon which to dwell for
| moment, and short "m' to close the
lips.
| All nations use similar combination
| of sounds in the expletives. There are
a number of letters in the alphabet
| which are more or less explosive in
sound, but none of them seem to equal
'big, big D'' as a starter. In a pinch
such words as gam, ram. JAM" might
be made to answer, but single trial
will convince you that they are deficient
in some essential quality.
Those who regard ''dam" as a ''cuss
word" often resort to dang, ding. or
darn These answer very well when
the pressureis not very strong. or does
not come on suddenly. 'Dad-burD,"
'dod-durn" and "dog-gone" fill the
mouth quite comfortably when double
eXpletive is demanded. While these
are not regarded as really bad words,
there is no doubt of their having been
coined as substitutes for prOfane eX-
pletiveS.
Women are generally supposed to be
moral and too good to swear or to use
vocal explosives, such as men often feel
compelled to indulge in as matter of
relief from an OverpreSSure OF nervous
energy.
The fact is that the women have
different style of safety-yalve tears.
They also have the fainting faculty,
which helps them over many trying and
exciting points. Medical scientists have
long been trying to determine the func-
ton of tears, but only recently have
they reached satisfactory conclusion.
Following is an extract from an article
on the subject by DR.. b. W. Richardson
that appeared in the Aselepiad some
time since:
s'In general way tears are made up
of pure water holding a trace of saline
matter, and nothing more; the glands
which secrete them are the purest wells
of pure water in the body. Tears are
the result of nervous storm i'll the cen
trail nervous system. under which there
is such change in the vascular ter
minals of the tear-Secreting glands that
profuSe. Some eXcretiOn is always in
process in order that the surface of the
eye may be laved and cleared of foreign
matters which may come in contact with
it, but the controlling center is at
distance. AS the muscular power that
extends or f1exeS a finger is at distance
from the part moved, so the excitement
to tears is. from an irritation in distant
nervous center, and is removed when
the nervous center is either Soothed or
exhausted.
THE persons who weep say that tears
afford relief. Nothing is more perfectly
true, nothing more clear when the facts
are understood. The relief comes not
from the mere escape of tears, which is
only symptom, but from the cessation
of the storm in the nervous chain. If
the storm is calmed by soothing meas
ures, as when we sooth child that is
weeping from fear, annoyance or in
jury. we quiet the nervous centers, upon
which the effect ceases. In children
the soothing method succeeds, and
sometimes it succeeds in adults, al
though in adults the cessation of tears
is more commonly due to actual ex-
hauStion following period of nervous
activity. In grief the afflicted weep
until they can weep no more; then they
become calm, or, like children, cry
themselves to sleep.
"Thus tears indicate relief, and that
the nervous system has fallen into the
repoSe of WEAKNESS"
Women swear as awkardly as they
throw stones. In fact, when one does
let go an oath there is no telling where
it will land. The chances are that it
will fiZzle and Splutter like disabled
firecracker and hurt her worse than any
one else.
There are coarse, vulgar women who
have a habit of using prOfane language,
but it is so mingled with Billingsgate
vulgarity and Obscenity that no swear
ing man, even though he be hard
swearer, would acknowledge it as decent
profanity. A man can swear pretty
hard when he tries, but when it comes
to using vile language he is compelled
to yield the palm to the gentler sex.
Sensible women never attempt to swear,
and it is we'll.
Women indulge in "by-words" quite
scot" lee View" shoIy SMOKE"
''jimminy eric kets." These are more
or less explosive, and serve to relieve
any slight over pressure OF nervous en-
ergy that may be caused by breaking a
piece of china, pln-jag, burning a
finger on the stove, OF spilling coffee on
a new dress.
In addition to these they have large
and varied stock of exclamations-s'for
heavens sake" ''you don't say so,"
.'oh, give us rest" ''that's what"
s.merciful goodness" "bet your life."
These are but a few of the more COM
mon expressions, as you very we'll
know, but enough to answer the pur-
pose of this article.
Even these do not sound we'll, and
seem out of place coming from woman,
because they belong to the vocabulary
of slang, which has no place i'll the
world of culture and refinement.