I have just read a fascinating tidbit that I wanted to share with any other tidbit lovers.
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During World War I, British men started to swear a lot as a way "to alleviate despair."
As you know, World War I (like all wars) caused horrific suffering.
According to my source, if a sergeant said, "Get your f*cking rifles," it was understood just as a matter of routine.
But if he did NOT use the F-word ("Get your rifles"), it indicated "urgency and danger."
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In ordinary situations, we use swear words for emphasis.
But swear words were so overused by WW I soldiers, that if a soldier wanted to actually express an emotion, he would NOT swear!
Source: "Merely a Warning that a Noun is Coming" by Bee Wilson in the London Review of Books (print edition) for February 8, 2018. I assume that you can find it on the Web. (This computer illiterate old man cannot link.)
*****
During World War I, British men started to swear a lot as a way "to alleviate despair."
As you know, World War I (like all wars) caused horrific suffering.
According to my source, if a sergeant said, "Get your f*cking rifles," it was understood just as a matter of routine.
But if he did NOT use the F-word ("Get your rifles"), it indicated "urgency and danger."
*****
In ordinary situations, we use swear words for emphasis.
But swear words were so overused by WW I soldiers, that if a soldier wanted to actually express an emotion, he would NOT swear!
Source: "Merely a Warning that a Noun is Coming" by Bee Wilson in the London Review of Books (print edition) for February 8, 2018. I assume that you can find it on the Web. (This computer illiterate old man cannot link.)