HISTORY OF SWEARING

In 1972 the legendary comedian George Carlin listed “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television”, but if television had been around centuries ago the list would have been far longer. Insults and obscenities are as old as language itself; in some cases, perhaps older. While todays swear words often seem rather abstract in construction, many of them descend from social conditions in which they would have been considered downright scandalous. In puritanical societies, some would have been outright blasphemous or even cause for murder. Though a few have faded into obscurity, others such as the timeless ‘ars*hole’ have stood the test of time.

GADZOOKS

Taking the Lord’s name in vain

Although it sounds like something Fred Flintstone would yell after dropping a bowling ball on his foot, ‘Gadzooks’ was one of the Renaissance’s worst swear words. A contraction of ‘By God’s hooks’, or more literally, ‘By the nails in Christ’s cross’, Gadzooks was an ‘oath’ – an offensive or emphatic word or expression uttered in anger or shock.

In 1606, Parliament passed a law making it illegal to “jestingly