Forbidden Words: Taboo and the Censoring of Language

228 Forbidden Words
twig, turn up her toes, park/pop his clogs and the like; these are irreverent and
potentially dysphemistic, but more often than not used to challenge the fear of
death. Death while on military service is referred to by euphemisms that vary
between the solemnly patriotic do one’s bit for one’s country, make the
ultimate sacrifice – which glamorize death and help to reinforce for those
still surviving the illusory world of a glorious battlefield – and the wryly
humorous (if not downright flippant) come home in a box, X bought it and, for
flyers, be grounded for good. In Australia at least, gone to God is used
flippantly of inanimate objects that are broken or worn out.
Censoring the language of killing
Dangerous pursuits that put life in danger, such as war, mining, hunting and
fishing, are often beset with taboos on both language and behaviour, as people
seek to avoid defeat and subjugation, mining disasters, dangerous beasts and
getting lost at sea. People fear the spirits of dead enemies:
we may with some probability assume that, just as the dread of the spirits of his
enemies is the main motive for the seclusion and purification of the warrior who hopes
to take or has already taken their lives, so the huntsman or fisherman who complies
with similar customs is principally actuated by a fear of the spirits of the beasts, birds,
or fish which he has killed or intends to kill. For the savage commonly conceives
animals to be endowed with souls and intelligences like his own, and hence he
naturally treats them with similar respect. Just as he attempts to appease the ghosts
of the men he has slain, so he assays to propitiate the spirits of the animals he has
killed. (Frazer 1911: 190)
In many communities therefore, a hunter will conceal his purpose, saying such
things as I’m going to collect rattan, I’m going to climb a betel-nut tree. 54 And
often he will not name the game that he is hunting, even if he sees it.
Sometimes, men will not address other hunters by name lest their quarry is
monitoring their language. The same is true for fishermen. In addition, many
peoples have taboos against mentioning the names of dangerous animals,
whether hunting or not. In Chapter 2 we have already referred to the Ukrainian
proverb warning against mentioning the wolf’s name; there is also the Korean
holangito ceymal hamyen ontayteni ‘Speak of the tiger and it comes’. In a story
from central Australia, we find the following:
The child talked on persistently, ‘Do they say that cattle are always goring people?
How do they talk about cattle? They say they always gore people but they didn’t gore
us this time.’ The man answered the child. ‘Don’t talk like that! The cattle might hear
us, and attack and kill us.’ (Hudson and Richards 1978: 15)
This attitude reflects a fear that the souls of animals can understand human
language, and if a dangerous creature hears its name, it may attack. So wolves