Disir
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- Sep 30, 2011
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What in tarnation is “tarnation?” Why do people in old books exclaim “zounds!” in moments of surprise? And what could a professor of linguistics possibly have against “duck-loving crickets?”
I’ll get to the crickets later. But what unites all these expressions is a desire to find acceptable versions of profane or blasphemous words. “God” becomes “gosh,” “hell” becomes “heck,” and “damnation” becomes “tarnation.” In a similar vain, the rather antiquated phrase “God’s wounds” turns into “zounds.”
theconversation.com
Ok. So is zounds pronounced like wounds?
I’ll get to the crickets later. But what unites all these expressions is a desire to find acceptable versions of profane or blasphemous words. “God” becomes “gosh,” “hell” becomes “heck,” and “damnation” becomes “tarnation.” In a similar vain, the rather antiquated phrase “God’s wounds” turns into “zounds.”
Zounds! What the fork are minced oaths? And why are we still fecking using them today?
From 16th-century playwrights to ‘The Good Place,’ wordplay has found clever ways to get around uttering profane and blasphemous language.
theconversation.com
Ok. So is zounds pronounced like wounds?
