Forbidden Words: Taboo and the Censoring of Language

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Disease, death and killing 235 From the secure position afforded us by twenty-first-century medicine, when each new day seems to bring some new medical breakthrough, our fear of disease is no less acute than in earlier times. Disease is still something of a mystery: there are symptoms and there are sick patients, but there is often nothing tangible in disease itself. It seems mostly to arrive out of the blue and just as mysteriously seems able transmit itself from person to person, affecting some while leaving others curiously untouched. This is particularly true in the case of stigmatizing illnesses, such as AIDS or cancer. Current social attitudes towards these and disorders included under the label mental illness still reflect the medieval equation of good with well-being and evil with disease. Human beings fear losing control of their destinies, and this is at the root of many taboos. Disease is something that afflicts us; we are patients, we exercise no control. This adds to the horror of disease, which in the past would have been more acute because diseases were more mysterious and the fear of contagion greater. In normal non-clinical usage, madness is also perceived to result from a lack of control, and the fear of becoming insane has inspired some of the strongest linguistic taboos to be found in the general area of illness and disease. Death is, of course, simply another unavoidable body process; no one gets out alive. We can end our own life, but we have no control over when Nature will rob us of it. Death awaits all of us, and to most of us it is an unknown, something to be avoided and something that it is reasonable to be fearful of. Even those with strong religious beliefs are not usually in a hurry to meet their maker. For those who die after enduring severe pain, death is a haven. For others, death is eternal sleep or the start of a new afterlife. As we have seen, the language of death reflects all such attributes. Except for enemies, killing of persons is taboo. People we don’t like may be told to drop dead or go to hell (not heaven!); and if annoyed, we may say something like I’d like to wring his/your neck, even to persons we are normally fond of. Legally sanctioned killings are set about with euphemism. Acts of war are often cloaked in language that masks the true purpose and nature of acts of killing. By using deodorant language to describe dirty deeds, it is perhaps easier to commit those dirty deeds. Expressions such as soft skin target, surgical strikes, collateral damage and friendly fire help to minimize feelings of responsibility. They play down the slaughter of human beings and also create psychological distance between the perpetrators and their actions. And, while it is unlikely anyone is really taken in by such doublespeak – public opinion is not as easily manipulated as George Orwell’s Newspeak would suggest – research carried out by people like Elizabeth Loftus shows that loaded language does work to influence memory and perception. 70 Hunting is also characterized by language motivated by fear of dangerous
236 Forbidden Words creatures or fear of bad luck befalling the hunter – language that seeks to avoid the retribution of the killer being killed. Taboos drive the renewal of language. We have seen in the fields of disease, death and killing that self-censoring leads to the creation of X-phemisms, many of which show remarkable inventiveness; and even on these sad topics, some are playful.
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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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106 Forbidden Words viruses, global
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108 Forbidden Words A recent Britis
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110 Forbidden Words to race, religi
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5 Linguistic purism and verbal hygi
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114 Forbidden Words The making of t
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116 Forbidden Words prescriptive pr
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118 Forbidden Words In his own priv
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120 Forbidden Words who engage in r
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122 Forbidden Words and verbs.’ 3
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124 Forbidden Words would be dysfun
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126 Forbidden Words In the early tw
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128 Forbidden Words by circumlocuti
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130 Forbidden Words length identifi
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132 Forbidden Words But he that fil
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134 Forbidden Words the role the sp
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136 Forbidden Words second person i
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138 Forbidden Words Consider occasi
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140 Forbidden Words (Geordie and Cu
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142 Forbidden Words chairman, super
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7 Sex and bodily effluvia This chap
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146 Forbidden Words thy brother. 9
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148 Forbidden Words whack off, get
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150 Forbidden Words professional me
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152 Forbidden Words But I, the most
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154 Forbidden Words eldest son Drum
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156 Forbidden Words By the time of
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158 Forbidden Words Figure 7.1. Ban
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160 Forbidden Words went on a date
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162 Forbidden Words was inscribed;
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164 Forbidden Words ‘unclean’.
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166 Forbidden Words in a very real
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168 Forbidden Words I had myself ta
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170 Forbidden Words (euphemism); an
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172 Forbidden Words large plaza, it
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174 Forbidden Words seen through a
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176 Forbidden Words are intensely i
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178 Forbidden Words In those days,
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180 Forbidden Words Culinary camouf
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182 Forbidden Words Norman Conquest
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Page 203 and 204: 192 Forbidden Words still mineral w
Page 205 and 206: 194 Forbidden Words Food as a metap
Page 207 and 208: 196 Forbidden Words Food may also b
Page 209 and 210: 198 Forbidden Words production of a
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Page 215 and 216: 204 Forbidden Words off-colour, dow
Page 217 and 218: 206 Forbidden Words St Margaret of
Page 219 and 220: 208 Forbidden Words Lazarus, who wa
Page 221 and 222: 210 Forbidden Words Particularly ne
Page 223 and 224: 212 Forbidden Words the Kwaio, an A
Page 225 and 226: 214 Forbidden Words eighteenth cent
Page 227 and 228: 216 Forbidden Words define sick as
Page 229 and 230: 218 Forbidden Words a new acronym G
Page 231 and 232: 220 Forbidden Words the euphemisms
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Page 261 and 262: 250 Forbidden Words are expressions
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Page 265 and 266: Notes 1 TABOOS AND THEIR ORIGINS 1
Page 267 and 268: 256 Notes to pages 16-23 26 Cf. htt
Page 269 and 270: 258 Notes to pages 38-51 national o
Page 271 and 272: 260 Notes to pages 69-78 25 Partrid
Page 273 and 274: 262 Notes to pages 93-106 trivializ
Page 275 and 276: 264 Notes to pages 116-27 19 Campbe
Page 277 and 278: 266 Notes to pages 137-47 31 We are
Page 279 and 280: 268 Notes to pages 153-7 there are
Page 281 and 282: 270 Notes to pages 168-76 nickname
Page 283 and 284: 272 Notes to pages 193-211 43 Fern
Page 285 and 286: 274 Notes to pages 229-43 56 Simons
Page 287 and 288: 276 Notes to pages 249-52 32 Coming
Page 289 and 290: 278 References Aristotle. 1984. The
Page 291 and 292: 280 References Bybee, Joan L. 2003.
Page 293 and 294: 282 References Emerson, Ralph W. 18
Page 295 and 296: 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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