Categories include blasphemy, obscenity, profanity, the categorization of women and races, and modal varieties, such as the ritual insults of Renaissance 'flyting' and modern 'sounding' or 'playing the dozens.' Entries cover the historical dimension of the language, from Anglo-Saxon heroic oaths and the surprising power of medieval profanity, to the strict censorship of the Renaissance and the vibrant, modern language of the streets. A-Z entries cover the full range of swearing and foul language in English, including fascinating details on the history and origins of each term and the social context in which it found expression. While the emphasis is on American and British English, the different major global varieties, such as Australian, Canadian, South African, and Caribbean English are also covered. It covers the various social dynamics that generate swearing, foul language, and insults in the entire range of the English language. This is the only encyclopedia and social history of swearing and foul language in the English-speaking world. His book is a tireless exploration of a little discussed but irrepressible part of our linguistic heritage.S/t: The Social History of Oaths, Profanity, Foul Language & Ethnic Slurs in the English-speaking World Professor Hughes includes in this broad-ranging survey such topics as xenophobia and the racist basis of abuse, graffiti, the sexual and sexist patterns of swearing, the multifarious forms of euphemism and the curious varieties of verbal duelling known as 'flyting' and 'sounding'. This oscillation between institutional censorship and individual defiance continues to modern times. With the Renaissance came a shift from a religious to a secular idiom of swearing, a period combining rich exuberance in language with severe restraint. His discussion starts with the use of language as magic in 'primitive' society, the binding oath of heroic commitment in Anglo-Saxon warrior society and the emergence of blasphemy in the medieval age of faith. Geoffrey Hughes traces these two contrasting strands through our linguistic history. Hedged about with all manner of complex pressures, personal, societal, religious, sexual and other forms of taboo, it remains a phenomenon only imperfectly understood. From the earliest times swearing has existed in many variegated forms, from the deadliest curse to the most trivial expletives of annoyance.

Swearing by Geoffrey Hughes