Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-11-13
USES OF PROFANITY
Ridiculous Ingenuity Of Man in De-
vising Cuss Words.
0PEN-AIR LIFE INDUCES TIE HABIT
College Boating Couldn't Get On
Without 1t.
GU EER RENCH OATHS

From the Chicago Inter- Ocean.
That Americans and English should swear
is inevitable. Our Anglo-Saxon race is no.
toriously the most profane on earth: il has
been so ever since the days of its founda-
ton by the fusion of the Saxons with their
| Norman conquerors II is recorded that the
| Saxons were astonished at the strength and
profuseness OF Norman profanity, but that
they proceeded to add 1t to their vocabulary
| without loss Of time. So much for the be-
ginning. Chaacer leaves the declaration
that In his time swearing was practiced by
| every one, high or low, both sexes alike
| Numoerless records show that the custom
| had become anything but obsolete at the
time of Elzabeth's jolly reign. Ii was
! during that period OF history perhaps that
| men and women took to swearing by single
| details of the body of the crucifed Christ.
| Wounds. blood. sides. death. heart nails,
J loot. were made the oaths that are now to
| be considered characteristic of the Eliz-
| abethan age The words were prefaced by
| the possessive 's-as 'sblood 'sdeath. 'snails
in Authorization for Gods blood Gods
| death. Gods nails. Gods wounds" was
amalSamated into POUNDS. an exclamation
| still preserved in the tank melodrama and
| a certain stilted species of so-caled liter
| AZURE. The ejaculation nowadays is put into
| the mouth OF the villain as the expression
| OF his chagrin at The first Indication of the
| approach of his deserved downfall. its use
| Is accompanied with gesture and stage
| business indicative of frightened confusion.
1t is not to be inferred from the freedom
| OF their Indulgence in profanity that our
| Britlsh ancestors were an ungodly people.
Their continental neighbors while Derhaps
| not addicted to the habit of consiguing
| things to the realm of everlasting bIazes.
| ana certainly not possessing an objurgative
| vocabulary as rich and varied as that OF
| TIE English, used the name of the Almighty
| with the utmost familiarity. So do they TO
| this day. in fact
| French and German
| Is II to be regarded as a sacrilege? No.
| when the German lady exclaims: Herr
Gott"'-"Ir GoG"-she means no irrever-
| eLce. Nor does the Frenchman when he
| declares that God knows that the picture is
beautiful. Such linguistic usages are SIM
ply HABITS that do not happen to oppose
| national prejudice. The name is so COM
| monty used in the romance languages that
| their ordinary farewell is a committal to
divine protection. ''Adios." says the Span
| To God" is the direct translation. Italians
| lave it "Addio,' and the French "Adieu"
| adopted into English, is used a million
| times day without thought of the senti-
1 ment and beauty of its Significance.
The French subject to FREQUENT
| spasms of indignation, and of these they
| through
| medium of expressions which strike the
| English speaker most hopelessly unfit
| for the purpose. One of the old English
poets, ertally expressing his nations
| dignity. has left the following stanza:
IT'S strange the French prove.
| When they take to aspersing
80 INFERIOR to US in the science of cursings
| KICK Frenchman downstairs
| How absurdly he swears,
And now odd tbs to hear him,
\ When beat to jelly
| Roar out in q passion: BLUE
Deathr' and blue BeIlyr
| "Morbleu!' and "ventrebleu" were the
| expieuves which the old rhymester trans
lated literally. They should not be trans
| lated; 1t is an Injustice The weight or
blue in these words, and '.sacrebleu'' and
| corbleu," seems to be known and knowa-
| Die only to the French themselves Others
| should not make French profanity ridicu-
| lous by trying to find 1t out by means of
| TRANSLATION.
They Adopt Ours.
| National "cuss" words might make an
| interesting bit of atudy, but 1t could not
| very well be carried In this country.
Ihere is reason. Every foreigner landed
| at Castle Garden abandons his ancestral
| forms of blasphemy in favor of the Ameri-
| can system just as soon as attention and
| practice Will enable him to effect the
| Grange. Immigrants who cannot speak or
| understand word else of English can
| damn each other most creditahly II ;x 20
| pe aooed that the lower classes of them
| quickly add TO this knowledge a list of
| terms expressive of the disgusting and the
| obscene.
Everybody has seen those fellows who ara
| always IN danger Of forgetting thsmselva.
| IN the presence Of ladies'. Such fellows ara
nothing more nor less than the victims of
| Drains trained TO translate certain casual
| conditions into profanity. The strain of 80
tention they labor under while trying to
| tax politely must be something frightfuI.
| Fancy having to pause just about as Won
| are gong to use your natural expression
] Tor the admirable qualities or utter use-
| lessness OF an absent person and search for
an unfamiliar synonym that will cover
your meaning. No wonder that labitually
profane men don't talk much in polite So
| ciety.
Some Of the most profane classes of men
stoutly vfndicate their habit Western
siege drivers undoubtedly are possessed OF
| the most varied and elaborate repertoire of
| swear words that exists on American sell
or seas. They can spin out a longer .xclu-
| stVely profane sentence without repeating
| than perhaps any one else in the business.
| Now, those gentlemen claim that II is not
for mere qualification of a taste tlat they
sw ear; they maintain that nothing else PRO-
| duces the proper effect on a tired or frac-
tious team. Coaches of athletic teams and
boat crews occupy in measure the same
position as stage drivers. and justify the
same onense with the same argument.
The Coach Knows.
college graduate and old crew captain,
| who gives some days Of each year to the
development of his alma matters boating
material, said: Some of the fellows go
back to teach the youngsters the science OF
| 1t. They depend on me to stir them UP and
keep them out Of frances Having tried
every other means, / can say without Eesi-
tation that plenty of profanity is rhe only
thing that will accomplish the purpose.
There are men, to be sure. Of high
strung temperament, who get ratified IL
| they are talked to sharply. Profanity is
stimulant that must be applied to a crew
JUdiciously, but a medicine that most young
athletic men can take a good deal Of with
out disadvantage"
Swearing is the rule with all men who
live free, open-air lives favored with ex-
element The miner and the prospector,
the cowboy, locomotive engineers, woodmen
1T is the exception when these and similar
classes produce q man who does not Iein-
force his sentences with occasional we'll
rounded oaths.
In battle, some of the greatest of leaders
have had the custom of swearing as though