Forbidden Words: Taboo and the Censoring of Language

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Sex and bodily effluvia 157 I’m a total bottom. I don’t even like to get sucked. But I love giving good head for hours and I love getting fucked. (Leap 1996: 152) Gay language was replete with verbal play, as can be seen in the headlines from the long-defunct New York tabloid Brevities, reproduced in Figure 7.1. The headlines warrant scrutiny for the verbal plays on the following words and/or their denotations: balls, bean, camp, cods, cops on the lam, cruise, cunnilingus, daisies, degeneracy, drag, fag, fairies, flaunt, gay, hot chatter, lavenderish, lesbians, making love, navy yard, pansies, plague, pussy, queers, run afoul of, Sapphic sisters, sensational, sissies, sod, sucker, third sex, tool. Gay men are wont to refer to one another (certainly to queens) using female names, 40 feminine pronouns and feminine address forms, such as sister, aunty, sweetheart, dearie, darling, bitch, etc. In straight US, a man may be addressed as Mac or Joe; in gay US, he’ll get Mary. Women are referred to as fish (from the characteristic smell of a vagina). 41 ‘I adore seafood. Gorge myself whenever the fleet’s in. But I can’t stand fish,’ [a gay man] might say, and any gay man would instantly know that the speaker was turned on by sailors and turned off by women, while the puzzled Mr and Mrs Readers Digest, listening in, would assume this was a discussion about food preferences. (Vining 1986: 55; quoted by Chauncey 1994: 286) Gay ritual insults reported by Stephen Murray 42 have a lot in common with flyting and playing the dozens (see Chapter 3), e.g.: A: Cross your legs you’re showing your hemorrhoids. B: You need to strap yours forward so you’ll have a basket. A gay person who gives themselves tickets is known as Miss Thang; the alphabetism YMCA is said to mean ‘Why I’m so gay’; New York’s Central Park near Columbus Circle, once a haunt for gays, had a Fruited Plain, Vaseline Alley and Bitches’ Walk. In 1970s San Francisco, gays with facial hair wearing nuns’ habits established a now worldwide order of Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, in light-hearted mockery of Roman Catholic persecution of gays. Verbal play is found in other gay slang such as bear ‘hefty hairy man’, twink ‘cute young man’, chicken ‘young boy’, chickenhawk ‘older man who prefers chickens’, datette (with the common diminutive suffix -ette) ‘brief date that involves no overnight stay’, almost the same as the three gets ‘get home, get off, get out’, tearoom/t-room ‘public toilet’. Rape and the meaning of ‘No’ Consensual sexual intercourse is constrained by taboos: it may not freely take place in public, and each party must have the power to refuse the other, thus
158 Forbidden Words Figure 7.1. Banner headlines from Broadway Brevities, 1931–2 (from Chauncey 1994: 300). neither party can be a minor. Non-consensual sex is either sexual assault or rape. The definition of rape differs among jurisdictions. At a minimum, it is non-consensual penile penetration of the vagina. Until fairly recently, there was no rape in marriage and homosexual rape was dealt with under sodomy
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Forbidden Words217905 Many words an
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CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridg
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393676 Contents List of figures pag
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351501 Acknowledgements We owe grat
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2 Forbidden Words and dysphemism ma
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4 Forbidden Words apprehension they
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6 Forbidden Words with unclean part
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8 Forbidden Words Figure 1.1. A wom
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10 Forbidden Words in (pre)history
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12 Forbidden Words different brain
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14 Forbidden Words alleurynge of ma
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16 Forbidden Words Wants pawn term
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18 Forbidden Words very extensive g
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20 Forbidden Words Milton would hav
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22 Forbidden Words Such vile deeds
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24 Forbidden Words Censorship nearl
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26 Forbidden Words existed, would c
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28 Forbidden Words more than impose
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30 Forbidden Words instance, Fieldi
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32 Forbidden Words Table 2.1. Contr
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34 Forbidden Words Figure 2.1. Dist
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36 Forbidden Words So, defining the
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38 Forbidden Words Figure 2.2. Visu
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40 Forbidden Words were to inform c
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42 Forbidden Words Dirty words have
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44 Forbidden Words taboo topics the
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46 Forbidden Words meaning ‘gay m
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48 Forbidden Words Zimmerman’s na
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50 Forbidden Words I cross the swin
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52 Forbidden Words It is generally
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54 Forbidden Words are wedded to co
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56 Forbidden Words Jargon. Gibridge
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58 Forbidden Words b. Idioms and ab
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60 Forbidden Words These phrases de
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62 Forbidden Words another point of
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64 Forbidden Words scholarship; lik
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66 Forbidden Words standards); they
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68 Forbidden Words Syntagmatic rela
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70 Forbidden Words the terms argot
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72 Forbidden Words entries labelled
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74 Forbidden Words Key: Her scotche
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76 Forbidden Words appropriate to t
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78 Forbidden Words management of X-
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80 Forbidden Words cat and bitch of
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82 Forbidden Words homosexuality. T
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84 Forbidden Words whites; and in A
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86 Forbidden Words ing, joining, ra
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88 Forbidden Words [Two urban worki
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4 The language of political correct
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92 Forbidden Words supposed that th
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94 Forbidden Words There once was a
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96 Forbidden Words correct’ terms
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98 Forbidden Words For many, the po
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100 Forbidden Words the controversy
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102 Forbidden Words in the face of
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104 Forbidden Words contaminated ot
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208 Forbidden Words Lazarus, who wa
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210 Forbidden Words Particularly ne
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212 Forbidden Words the Kwaio, an A
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214 Forbidden Words eighteenth cent
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216 Forbidden Words define sick as
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218 Forbidden Words a new acronym G
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220 Forbidden Words the euphemisms
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222 Forbidden Words Of those that l
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224 Forbidden Words on modern embal
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226 Forbidden Words and buried thei
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228 Forbidden Words twig, turn up h
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230 Forbidden Words the representat
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232 Forbidden Words Otherwise, it i
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234 Forbidden Words whisper to thei
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236 Forbidden Words creatures or fe
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238 Forbidden Words physical harm m
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240 Forbidden Words blasphemy was p
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244 Forbidden Words Raising goosefl
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246 Forbidden Words These findings
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248 Forbidden Words word or phrase;
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250 Forbidden Words are expressions
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252 Forbidden Words odious; so the
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Notes 1 TABOOS AND THEIR ORIGINS 1
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256 Notes to pages 16-23 26 Cf. htt
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258 Notes to pages 38-51 national o
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260 Notes to pages 69-78 25 Partrid
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262 Notes to pages 93-106 trivializ
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264 Notes to pages 116-27 19 Campbe
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266 Notes to pages 137-47 31 We are
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268 Notes to pages 153-7 there are
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270 Notes to pages 168-76 nickname
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272 Notes to pages 193-211 43 Fern
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274 Notes to pages 229-43 56 Simons
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276 Notes to pages 249-52 32 Coming
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278 References Aristotle. 1984. The
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280 References Bybee, Joan L. 2003.
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282 References Emerson, Ralph W. 18
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284 References Harris, Catherine L.
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286 References Kinsey, Alfred. 1953
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288 References Moore, Judith. 1994.
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290 References Rochester, John Wilm
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292 References Van Lancker, D. and
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294 Index Balinese 5 Banks 262 bant
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296 Index disease 1, 22, 41, 62, 71
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298 Index Hughes, G. 16, 24, 260, 2
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300 Index OED (Oxford English Dicti
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302 Index Spain, Spanish 52, 132, 1
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Forbidden Words: Taboo and the Censoring of Language

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