Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1910-11-13
We CAN SWEAR
MUCH THE BEST
no OTHER LANGUAGE 50 EN'
PIiESSINE AS ENGLISH
THERE IS A FITNESS
That l. Why There l. No Duclling In
Amciig-"Dnmn' l. the
Most Elective.

hNNl i#HN'llNNs
From the Boston Herald.
An English magistrate, Cluer j, r.,
By name, recently caused a sensation
In London by notifying the constab-
ulary that he would entertain no more
charges against pcrsons taken In the
act of public swearing unless II could
be- shown by direct eN denCe that their
remarks had given actual pain 20 cit
izeus within hearing
Every Englishmun' said Cluer j.
T., has a perfect right 10 swear all
he plcascs, so long as he does not
break the public pence. Swearing, I'm
itself is crime unknown to the
laws Of England The offeuse. II any
exists at all, lies In the annoyance. In
order to convict it Is necessary 10
produce witnesses Of good repute who
are willing to make oath that they
have been annoyed, So long as no
one complains, a man may swear and
swear and swear The police have no
right to molest him until definite COM
plant has been made
The English language being the
tongue of the most civilized races, Is
notably pre-eminent In profanity us
vocabulary Of Cuss words, In fact. Is 50
enormous that no single man can
ever hope TO master II. II has special
phrases to meet all possible emergcn-
Cics and eXigencles; idiOms TO III every
conceivable mood ana passion, 4 man
might swear in English from now uu-
al the crack of doom and still never
repeat an oath, fOr each year sees
the invention and acceptance Of "a
large number Of new ones, II has
been estimated, In IA I, that fully one
hundred thousand have been invented
since the year 1880 MANY old ones
Of course, fail into desuetude each
year but the genera store must he
constantly increasing When the New
York sun, half a dozen years ago, es-
sayed TO compile a complete dictiOn-
AIRY OF profanity, the enterprise had
to be abandoned as leyond the capac-
ity Of merely mortal man
In "A Tramp Abroad" the late Sam
ucl l.. Clemens (MarF Twain, pointed
out the comparative poverty Of the
German language I'm effective and sat
istactOry swear words II was impOs-
sibe, said Doctor Clemens, for a Ger
man to swear with any nuency, for
the profane vocabulary of his native
tongue was meagre aud childish. Up
on this ground, perhaps, the survival
of duelling among the Germans may
he explained. They are civilized
and humane people and duelling must
outrage their sense of decency, as II
does ours. but in the absence of the
facilities for cooling swearing they
are compelled to relieve their RACES
by butchery Those Germans who
speak English swear in that language
and so do all other foreigners who
are sufficiently cultured, The SlavOn-
ic or Ruthenian immigrant, landing
upon our shores, leans how 10 swear
in English even before he learns how
TO vote. English cuss words, like
English gold, are current in all parts
of the world
Mark Twain was Of the opinion
and used to maintain with great elo-
quence that the English word damn
was the most effective single word
ever devised by human beings. He was
fond of contrasting II with its puny
German equivalent "verdammt.' A
man might say "verdammt" he would
argue, one thousand times and still
attain to no feeling of ease and re-
lief. but half dozen hearty "damns'
would quickly reduce him from emo
tional incandcscence to philosophical
calm Doctor Clemens himself en-
pluyed damn" to the exclusion of all
other profanity. in which fad he fol-
lowed George Washington. He was a
bitter opponent Of all elaborate and
offensive Oaths,
There Is certain dignity about
English profanity which testllles to
the part played In its development by
men Of the higher cQstes. Among the
Orientals, and In Europe among the
Spaniards and Italians, swearing is u
peasant product and, in consequence,
Is strongly favored with blasphemy
and indeccncy a Spaniard cannot
swear at an enemy without giving of.
fensc to the refined mind, The oaths
of a Hindu are entirely unjrintable
The case is different with English
profanity II Is sonorous and impress
sive without being vulgar, and, in con-
sequence, 1t has found its way into
the belles-lettres of the race. The
plays of William Shakespeare cOnsti-
tute an almost neXhaustiblc mine of
picturesque profanity Not only Fal-
stan and DOgberry and other such
rapsOlllions. but also Hamlet and Lear
swear scientifically and copiously
But, if swearing is so necessary as
an emotional safety valve, how do
women get along without practicing
il? They are, 1t is obvious, far more
emotional than men, and so need
more frequent relief The answer Is
not far to seek. Womanly tears take
the place of masculine darns. wo-
man, when she comes to the verge Of
hysteria, weeps. A good cry reduces
her temperature to the normal and
relieves her emotional agony. The
slme sort of relief Is often sought,