Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1897-11-28
USES OF PROFANITY.
INGENUITY OF DEPRAyED MEN IN
DEvISING CUsS WORDS.
What Open-Air Life Does-COlleEe
Boating Couldn't Get On With
out It-SOme Very Queer
French Oaths.

very well be carried on in this country.
There is Il 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 ana
practice will enable him to effect the ham
Immigrants who cannot speak or under
stand a word else of English can damn
each other most creditably. 1t is to be add
ed that the lower classes of them quickly
add to this knowledge 4 list of terms ex-
pressive of the disgusting and obscene
Everybody has seen those fellows who are
always in danger of forgetting themselves
in the presence of ladies'. Such fellows are
nothing more or less than the victims of
brains trained to translate certain casual
conditions into profanity. The strain of at
tention they labor under while trying to
talk politely must be something friShtful.
Fancy having to pause just about as you
are going to use your natural expression
for the admirable qualities or utter useless
ness of an absent person and search for an
synonym that will cover your
meaning. No wonder that habitually pro-
Some Of the most profane classes of men
stoutly vindicate their habit. Western stage
drivers undoubtedly are possessed OF the
swear words that exist on American soil
or seas. They can spin out a longer exclus-
lively profane sentence. without repeating
than perhaps anyone else in the business.
Now. those gentlemen claim that 1t Is not
for mere qualification of a taste that they
swear; 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 a measure the same
same offense with the same argument.
Americans and English.
The Americans and English should swear
is inevitable. Our Anglo-Saxon race Is noto-
riously the most profane on earth; 1t has
been SO ever since the days of its founda-
Norman conquerors. It is recorded that the
Saxons were astonished at the strength and
profuseness of Norman profanity. but that
they proceeded to add It to their VOCABULARY
without loss Of time. So much for the be-
ginning. Chaucer leaves the declaration
that in his time swearing was practiced by
Numberless records show that the custom
had become anything but obsolete at the
time Of Elizabeth,s Jolly reign 1t Was
men and women took to swearing by single
details OF the body Of the crucitied Christ.
Wounds. blood. sides. death. heart. nails,
be considered characteristic of the Eliza
bethan age. The words were prefaced by
jim abbreviation for Gods blood. Gods
death. Gods nails. Gods wounds" was
amalgamated into zounds-an exclamation
a certain stilted species Of so-called litera-
ture. The ejaculation nowadays is put into
the mouth of the villain as the expression
VI IIAo III a. lIC hAS u SA0
| approach Of his deserving 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
British ancestors were an ungodly people.
IN nmeir .d GE n ta mel neish habis W %hi ceI psenaps
things to the realm of everlasting blazes.
and certainly not possessing an o~bJurgative
the English. used the name of the Almighty
with the utmost familiarity. So do they to
this day, in fact.
French and German.
Is it to be regarded as a sacrilege? No.
When, the German lady exclaims: Herr
ence. 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
monlycused in the romance languages that
d dhsin o paoaeciion aare !xdios Is a sa Som the span to
ITO God" is the direct translation. Italians
a adse into aooi English ism i IS used stfi LOCO oe times
a day without thought of the sentiment and
beauty of its significance.
The French are subject to freQuent spasms
of indignation. and of these they readily
relieve themselves through the medium of
expressions which strike the English speak
One of the old English poets, incidentally
expressing his nations we'll known opinion
Of French valor and dignity, has left the
following stanza:
'Tis strange the French prove.
When they take to aspersing.
So inferior to us in the science Of cursing:
| Kick a Frenchman down stairs
How absurdly he swears.
And how odd It's to hear him.
When beat to a jelly,
Roar out in a passion; Blue
Death!' and blue belly!'
"Morbleu!' and 'ventrebleu!" were the
expletives which the old rhmyster transla-
ted literally. They should not be %transla-
ted: it is an injustice. The weight of"blue"
in these words, and "sacrebleu" and cor
bleu' seems to be known and movable
only to the French themselves. Others
should not make French profanity ridicu.
lous by trying to find 1t out by means Of
translation.