The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1910-08-25
SWEARING NEEDFUL
AS BATHING
Pent Up Emotion May
Mean Madness
English Speaking People Have Plent,
OF Profanity to Express Their Feel
ings.


An English magistrate, Cluer, J. p.
Ey name, recently caused a sensation
IN London by notifying the constabu-
larry that he would entertain no more
charges against persons taken in the
act OF public swearing unless it could
he shown, by direct evidence. thar
their remarks had given actual pain
to citizens within hearing.
Every Englishman,' said Cluer. J.
p. has a perfect right 10 swear all BE-
pleases. so long as he does not break
the public peace. Swearing, in itself.
is a crime unknown to the laws OF
England. The offense, if any exists
at all lies i'll the annoyance. In order
to convict, it is necessary TO produce
witnesses of good repute who are
willing to make oath that they have
been annoyed. So long as no one
complains, man may swear, and
swear and swear The police have
no right to modest him until definite
complaint has been made.
This pronuncamento. when it was
printed in the newspapers. caused a
good deal of establishments and ewi-
nent juriconsuts were appealed 10
for their views One and al they de
cided that GlGer, J. r.. WIS right L
was true. as he said that the mere
-, 81 Ia
offense under the laws OF England
Then the intery;eweIs sought ether
authorities. and here they met With
fresh surprises. for some of those au-
thorities were physicians, and all OF
them argued that swearing vs.
habit as necessary and beneficial TO
the average man as bathing HE
suppression of the emotions, said
one of them, lis exceedingly danger
Gus. In barbarous society a man
eases his rage by shedding blood. In
civilized societies he is forbidden TO
do so, and in consequence he must
get relief by swearing. To make
swearing costly or impossible would
be to fill the lunatic asylums with
babblng maniacs'
Here we have made statements so
obviously true that they sweep the
frontiers of platitude. Among sayages
there is no development of the art of
swearing, for the simple reason that
sayages commonly relieve their
emotions by homicide. \
South African Zulu, restrained by his
British masters from discharging his
feelings in that manner. presents
pitiful spectacle Having. as yet eyolv-
ed no adequate vocabulary of profan-
ity, he is compelled 10 call his enemy
a COW or a woman bathos which ag
gravates rather than eases his rage
If he can speak a few words OF Eng
fish he swears in that language, but
if he is entirely untutored he can only
suffer
The English language, being the
tongue of the most civilized races, is
notably pre-eminent in profanity. Its
vocabulary of cuss words, in fact, is
so enormous that no single man can
ever hope to master il. II has special
phrases to meet all possible emergen-
cies and eXigencies: idoms to fit ev-
cry conceivable mood and passion. A
man might swear in English from
now until the crack of doom and still
never repeat an oath, for each year
sees the invention and acceptance of
large number of new ones. 1t has
been estimated in fact. that fully
100 000 have been invented since the
year 1880. Many old ones, of course
fall into desuetude each year but
the general store must be constantly
increasing. When the New York Sun,
half a dozen years ago, essayed to
compile complete dictionary of pro-
family the enterprise had to be
abandoned as beyond the capacity of
merely mortal man.
In "A Tramp Abroad" the late
Samuel L. Clemens Mark Twain +
pointed out the comparative poverty
of the German language in effective
and satisfactory sweaT-words. 1t was
impossible. said Dr. Clemens, for a
German to swear with any f1uency. for /
the profane vocabulary of his native
tongue was meager and childish.
Upon this ground, perhaps. the survi-
val of dueling among the Germans
may be explained They are a civil
lied and humane people, and dueling
must outrage their sense of decency, /
as it does ours, but in the absence of
facilities for cooling by swearing they |
are compelled to relieve their RACES /
by butchery. Those Germans who
and so do all other foreigners who
are sufficiently cultured. The
Slavonic or Ruthenian immigrant. /
landing upon our shores, learns how