Strewth, bloody, rooted: is there a quintessentially Australian swear word?

[Disir]

...The first recorded instances of swearing in any language date from ancient Egypt, around 1198–1166 BC, with the threat that those who failed to make an offering to the gods would have to copulate with a donkey. Examples of swearing can be found in classical Greek and Latin (a favourite curse of the Romans was “By Hercules!”), and we also have evidence of swearing from medieval Europe.

...So is there a quintessentially Australian swear word? In the 19th century a visitor to the colonies, Alexander Marjoribanks, in his book Travels in New South Wales (1847) claimed that the word bloody was ubiquitous in Australia – in fact, it was, he declared, “the great Australian adjective”. While travelling through the colonies he observed with disdain that “[o]ne man will tell you that he married a bloody young wife, another, a bloody old one; and a bushranger will call out, ‘Stop, or I’ll blow your bloody brains out.’ ” He calculated that the average Australian bullock-driver – a notorious figure in the history of Australian bad language – would, in a lifetime, say this “disgusting word” no less than 18,200,000 times.

Sidney Baker in his classic study of Australian English, The Australian Language (1945), identifies bloody as one of what he calls “the four Bs”, sitting alongside bugger, bastard and bullshit. None are exclusively Australian, of course, but each would likely evoke particularly Australian associations for many of us, and have been well used through our history. We might remember when Bob Hawke was caught out calling a member of the public a “silly old bugger”, Don Chipp’s founding of the Australian Democrats with the slogan “Keep the bastards honest”, and Malcolm Turnbull labelling Tony Abbott’s climate change policy “bullshit”, presaging an ongoing feud between the two that would help to bring down both their prime ministerships. Our politicians have rarely shied away from using strong language.

Strewth, bloody, rooted: is there a quintessentially Australian swear word?

In this book extract, Amanda Laugesen says it’s hard to argue that Australians swear more than others, but we do our best, and we try to be inventive in the process

www.theguardian.com

This is a fun article.

 

[gtopa1]

...The first recorded instances of swearing in any language date from ancient Egypt, around 1198–1166 BC, with the threat that those who failed to make an offering to the gods would have to copulate with a donkey. Examples of swearing can be found in classical Greek and Latin (a favourite curse of the Romans was “By Hercules!”), and we also have evidence of swearing from medieval Europe.

...So is there a quintessentially Australian swear word? In the 19th century a visitor to the colonies, Alexander Marjoribanks, in his book Travels in New South Wales (1847) claimed that the word bloody was ubiquitous in Australia – in fact, it was, he declared, “the great Australian adjective”. While travelling through the colonies he observed with disdain that “[o]ne man will tell you that he married a bloody young wife, another, a bloody old one; and a bushranger will call out, ‘Stop, or I’ll blow your bloody brains out.’ ” He calculated that the average Australian bullock-driver – a notorious figure in the history of Australian bad language – would, in a lifetime, say this “disgusting word” no less than 18,200,000 times.

Sidney Baker in his classic study of Australian English, The Australian Language (1945), identifies bloody as one of what he calls “the four Bs”, sitting alongside bugger, bastard and bullshit. None are exclusively Australian, of course, but each would likely evoke particularly Australian associations for many of us, and have been well used through our history. We might remember when Bob Hawke was caught out calling a member of the public a “silly old bugger”, Don Chipp’s founding of the Australian Democrats with the slogan “Keep the bastards honest”, and Malcolm Turnbull labelling Tony Abbott’s climate change policy “bullshit”, presaging an ongoing feud between the two that would help to bring down both their prime ministerships. Our politicians have rarely shied away from using strong language.

Strewth, bloody, rooted: is there a quintessentially Australian swear word?

In this book extract, Amanda Laugesen says it’s hard to argue that Australians swear more than others, but we do our best, and we try to be inventive in the process

www.theguardian.com

This is a fun article.

K'noath there is!!!

Greg

 

[.oldschool]