The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-07-19
FAMOUS OATES OF
 FAMOUS PEOPLE Vocabulary of Profane Is Quaint and Curious DEITY AND THE DEVIL This Is Natural Division of Impreca- tions-Latter Has Many Aliases. Origin of Word "Damn"-Pu-
 litzer's Vocabulary
DEITY AND THE DEVIL

Oaths are but words. and words are wind" according to the author of aHudl- bras" And 1t seems to be the province of an oath. in the mind of the average man, to clear the mental atmosphere as a strong wind blows away miasma, says the Detroit Free Press. Shakespeare speaks of "a good. mouth-fiiling oath. land there are occasions when a righteous Indignation seems to excuse if not call for an emphatic expletive. which acts as a safety valve to pent-up anger or ex- asperation. Everybody has noticed how a vigorous "Damnr on the stage will, If occasion justifies it, send ripple of sympathetic laughter through an audi enoe-a call in which "a fellow feeling makes us wondrous kind.
 Profanity and blasphemy are syno- nvms. and involve violations of the first commandment, practice less common in the present than in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when a man used many quaint and now obsolete paths. A study of the vocabulary of the profane is curious and indicative of many changes in the purport of words and expressions. Thus damn" as an expletive, has been much altered from its original meaning Its root is the Latin damnare, to con- deinn, which itself comes from dam num- loss, or fine, and the significa- ton of eternal punishment in the place the late Colorel Ingersoll contended does does not exist is unwarrantcd by. its primary meaning. Not worth a damn is also a perversion, since the dam orig inally alluded to was an Indian coin worth about the fortieth part of rupee; the expression was thus synonym for worthlessness.
 A sfIaf1 1af11f- how rtroc fxfo md seventeenth century roysterer so called from the excessive profanity of the period. ''Darn" sometimes called "a woman's oath" is a vulgar corruption of damn
 Imprecations are naturally divided between Deity and the devil. A whole ouiverful of ejaculations, many of which are out of date, were formerly associated with the first. John Perrot, natural son of Henry VIII, is said to be the originator of the oath, Gods wounds" which Queen Elizabeth adopt ed, but which the ladies of her court shortened to "zounds" and "zouterkins." "Ods bodkins" referred to Gods body, in connection with the sacrament of the mass; "Ods pitkins" invoked Gods pity "Ods fish" was a contraction of Gods flesh; "Od rot it." a now obse- lete euphemism for an oath, probably came from God rot it." The name of : God is still favored by those addicted to profanity The late Joseph Pulitzer used My God' and For Gods sake" almost constantly, according to one of his secretaries, but in a purely ejae- ulatory fashion-as Frenchman might say Mon Dieu," or a German "Ach, du bebe Gott! When he said damn" it was as a qualification to the word fool in his vocabulary there were no fools but damned fools.
 The devil has as many aliases as a counterfeiter due no doubt, to a lin- gering remnant of belief in evil spirits which led mankind to avoid taking the name of Satan in vain. story Is told of Hampshire woman which illus trates the disposition of homely folk to stand well with the evil one.
 She asked her neighbor if she taught her children to bow when they spoke of the devil, adding: "I do. I think it. safer" The devil is variously the Old Harry, Old Nick Old Gooseberry, Old Scratch, Auld Hornie, Old Gentleman. the Dickens. the Deuce and. no doubt, others not here named. The phrase, "Go to the devil" had at first no i'll meaning. A public house in Fleet street, London, was called ''The Devil.' Eventually the ex- pression became more emphatic than in forming.
 William the Conqueror's oath was mag nificent He swore By the Splendor o1 Godi'' Bayard, 'Le Chevaier sans peui ct sans reproche ("By Gods holy day'') King John asseverated By Goods tooth Charles VIII, By Gods light" "Ods fish" was the favorite oath of Charles II the famous Earl of Angus swore By the might of God" when in deadly earn. est, but for ordinary use found By St Bride of Douglas" sufficiently emphatic
 In the reign of Charles II fancy oaths became common and seem to have persisted to the present time. Strike me dumb" Split my windpipe,' "Sunburn me- Strike me stupid" are credited to Lord Foppington, the empty headed cox comb of Colley Cibber's "Careless Hus- band" "Shiver my timbers'' belongs nat urally to the old salt Gin fiction), as "rl be hornswoggled" or "b'gosh'' to the rus tic Personal invention gives us many peculiar expressions, all loosely in the nature of oaths, which belong to the user and which may occasionally be classed as picturesque.