The God Con
  • The God Con
  • About
  • Purchase Book/Contact the Author
  • Index

​
​The God Con
Pay
Pray Obey​

Certainly not The Good Book,
But perhaps a good book.
Picture

Nine Nasty Words; John McWhorter; 2021; Avery Books; 270 pgs

14/6/2021

12 Comments

 
Picture
​This book is not for everyone. The etymology of words  can be a little dry. This book is about dirty words. What used to be called "profanity", meaning an insult to god. When I was young, the bad words were "god", "Jesus", "hell", and "damn". The others, like "fuck" and "shit", were out there too, and it was understood without explanation that they were also really bad.  Bad words were changing. Most of the profane curses of my youth are now in common usage.

I recall with some amusement when the networks changed the rules. They would routinely bleep the phrase "god damn it" to "god bleep it", but then one day it switched and they bleeped it thus "bleep damn it". To me, this just underscored the arbitrariness of it all.

I was an atheist from a very early age, and any swearing that was profane (an insult to god) kind of baffled me. I always wondered why, since god did not seem to care. My parents used to swear in Danish, so they got a free ride.

The point is, when I was very young, it was the profane that was at issue. The central theme of the book is the evolution of swear words. The profane then yielded to the "dirty", neatly summed up by George Carlin's "Seven Deadly Words You Can Never Say on Television", namely: shit, fuck, piss, cunt, motherfucker, cocksucker and tits. Basically, words related to bodily acts or bits, from sex to elimination.

But even these words, except for one,  have become so ubiquitous that they have lost their edge. Now, you can hear every one of them on late night TV or on any streamed service. Back then (in the early 70s), if you wanted to hear uncensored material, LPs were your only choice. 

Today, the new bad words are those that connote hate and single out a group of people. The big ones are "faggot" and, of course, "nigger".

The book is full of interesting evolutions of phrases and words. For example, "gadzooks"  comes from "god's hooks", the nails used to pin up Jesus. "Odds bodkins" comes from "god's body", "Cor blimey" is from "god blind me", and so on.

I was amused by the grammatical rules for inserting "fucking" into another word (e.g. Fan-fucking-tastic). The rule is that "fucking" must appear between two accented units (it works with "incredible", but not with "interesting") . BTW: "Fuck" does not come from "Fornication Under the Consent of the King".  "Cunt" may have come from "coney" meaning "rabbit". Very similar to "pussy", no? The actual origins of "cunt" are unknown, but it was in very common use not too long ago. Today, it stands out, with "nigger" as dangerous words to use. It is the queen of curse words. This is likely due to the fact that it is female-specific, and to our culture's growing awareness that women have been given the shit-end of the stick for, well…, ever. The last thing they really need is another burden.

There has been a lot of language evolution in my life time, and it is interesting to speculate on how it will change in the future. "Nigger" is discussed at length. The author is black, so he can do that. It is interesting to note that "nigga", when used appropriately, lacks the evil connotations of the hateful word "nigger". It may well become acceptable, in the future, for blacks and whites. I suspect that language is changing faster now than ever in the past due to the enormous access we all have to varying uses and users through the internet and uncensored entertainment. 

The following are my thoughts: The euphemism "N-word" is one of the dumbest things I can recall. You hear "N-word", but you think "nigger". How has this helped? People have been fired for using the word just once, and in appropriate context. For example,  in many US states, a teacher cannot say "One hundred and fifty years ago, in the Southern United  States, the word 'nigger' was in common use." without risking termination. That is stupid. I do not have a problem with the current off-limits nature of the word, especially for whites. But it is just a word.

All of your favorites are discussed at some length. A few I have not mentioned are "ass", "dyke", "pussy", and "bitch". "Tits" did not make the list. I miss George.    

The book lacks an index. This is annoying. With computers, you can index a book in a day. Two if you want a reasonably good one.     

12 Comments
Jeff Cooper link
29/12/2021 05:42:22 pm

I saw the following image on Facebook; a google search led me to your "The God Con" book. Is this image from your book? If so it's frikkin' *hilarious* and spot on! Also, although I know most of those depicted, I'm not sure of all of them. Is there a list? Finally, I'm not able to check the "Notify me of new comments to this post by email" box, but will check back here... uh... areligiously ;-)

Here is the link to the image of 16 people who contributed to the world (not Jeebus)
https://scontent.fhio2-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/270695632_2940203949563257_4321510560857205737_n.jpg?_nc_cat=110&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=825194&_nc_ohc=Sja6C8cF6xsAX-fO0gk&_nc_ht=scontent.fhio2-2.fna&oh=00_AT-ADSb5OMOXmJ7tD_w0EKrQoqgEJ2LgEhyPU53mS9RTug&oe=61D26B95

Reply
Lee A Moller
29/12/2021 06:11:12 pm

Thanks for the kind comments. I suspect you might be tripping over Aristotle or Socractes. There is one image that even I do not recognize... off the top of my head.

Reply
Jeff Cooper link
29/12/2021 06:45:18 pm

this is what I think. i reverse image searched and added what they did for those i didn't know:
People = Newton
who = Tesla
made = Copernicus
exceptional = Eratosthenes (Father of Geography)
contributions = Archimedes
to = Marie Curie
the = Einstein
world = Michael Faraday
(not you) = Jeebus
before = Louis Pasteur
they = Alan Turing (Computer Scientist)
died = Darwin

SocialBoosting link
13/3/2022 11:24:04 am

Ok, These are brilliant words and I got something exclusive through this posting. I got some impressive words through this posting. Thanks and keep up the good work!

Reply
Study Permit Visa for Canada link
9/5/2022 10:19:10 am

Good Post! Thank you so much for sharing this pretty post, it was so good to read and useful to improve my knowledge as updated one, keep blogging.

Reply
Notary Public Lawyer in Kitchener link
11/5/2022 10:03:16 am

Good Post! Thank you so much for sharing this pretty post, it was so good to read and useful to improve my knowledge as updated one, keep blogging.

Reply
SocialMediaContent.co link
13/3/2022 12:12:22 pm

Brilliant reading so far and got some clear ideas through this posting! Yep, these tips are really helpful. I am very much keen for the next post. Thanks and keep up the good work!

Reply
Apply for Temporary Resident Permit Canada link
28/4/2022 09:29:54 pm

Nice blog post so thanks a lot for sharing this great blog post.. keep more post for sharing.. have a nice day.

Reply
Apply Permanent Residence Card Canada link
29/4/2022 04:10:10 am

Good Post! Thank you so much for sharing this pretty post, it was so good to read and useful to improve my knowledge as updated one, keep blogging.

Reply
Notary Public Lawyer in Cambridge link
4/5/2022 10:10:09 am

Very nice post, impressive. its quite different from other posts. Thanks for sharing.

Reply
Body building Product Review link
27/5/2022 02:59:22 am

Thanks for sharing this useful information! Hope that you will continue with the kind of stuff you are doing.

Reply
jolia link
17/9/2022 04:53:47 am

thanks ro share article , i used it ^_^

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Lee Moller is a life-long skeptic and atheist and the author of The God Con.

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017

    Categories

    All
    Books
    Comment
    Critical Thinking And Skepticism
    Donald Trump
    Quotes
    RCC
    Reviews
    Science
    The God Con

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • The God Con
  • About
  • Purchase Book/Contact the Author
  • Index