Comparative evolution of cursing

Culture moves along the paths of language, like a freight car along the rails of a railway. And
there are not only well-known pompous stations on this trip, but also small, almost
imperceptible ones, the names of which are sometimes embarrassing to even say out loud.
But sometimes important events take place on them, directing this train into the future.
British researcher Peter Silverton in his book "Filthy English" examines the evolution of
cursing in English and some other languages. One important pattern emerges from his
analysis: over time, the dirtiest swear words become an integral element of the everyday
lexicon.
A very revealing situation has developed in the modern French language with the word
"putain": it has turned from a noun into an exclamation. The French abuse it and can easily
say in a supermarket about some apples: "Putain, mais c'est bon!" (Oh, how good they are!).
Silverton says that he knew a French teacher who worked in London. He shouted "putain"
for any reason, but this did not at all indicate the low culture of his language - rather, a
certain automaticity of the habit.
The word "bitch" is considered a fairly innocent swear word in Britain today, writes
Silverton, but it wasn't always like that. A dictionary published in 1811 defines it as "the
most offensive address that can be applied to an English woman." Today, this word also
denotes a passive partner in the slang of homosexual prisoners. There is also a feminist
magazine "Bitch" in the USA. But, the researcher notes, in 1997 this word was subjected to
unexpected repression, which was related to the song of the group "Prodigy" "Smack My
Bitch Up".
Despite the fact that the content of the song was clearly ironic, the videoclip was rarely
shown on television even after midnight. BBC Radio 1 generally played only the instrumental
version without words and announced it on air simply as "Smack". In 2007, Brooklyn City
Council member Darlene Mealy proposed banning the use of the word "bitch", but only
eighteen of the fifty-one council members voted for it. (Ms. Mealy brought controversial
attention to herself in 2009 when she voted to give $5,000 of public money to Lynval
Samuels (also known as Dr. Bidi XiLi Bey), for teaching "etymology". Referred to by some as a
lunatic, Samuels "has been a fixture at Union St. and Utica Ave. for years, neighbors said -
stopping traffic, splattering paint on parking meters and fire hydrants, and handing out flyers
for his self-styled etymology classes.") The reason for defeat of this possible legislative ban
was the peculiar polymorphism of the aforementioned word in the English language. Calling
a woman that is one thing, but, for example, the phrase "This is a great book, although it
really is a bitch to read" in the mouth of even a sophisticated intellectual literally means:
"This is a great book, but it is very difficult to read." A modern Englishman can also easily say
about his girlfriend "She's my bitch and I love her". So, now it is just a friendly name for a
woman.

Attempts to criminalize swearing in the Western world are doomed not only because of
polymorphism, but also because of established cultural traditions. In ancient times, the so-
called Lèse-majesté law appeared in Europe, which determined the punishment for
swearing at public figures. The further away from the EU, the more archaic this norm takes.
For example, in Iran, someone who scolded a member of the government can receive 74
lashes, but in the Netherlands, the situation is completely different. In October 2007, a 47-
year-old man was fined €400 for walking up to a police officer, calling Queen Beatrix "rotten
whore" and talking about all the forms of sexual relations he wanted to have with her. The
use of profanity in everyday life (for example, on the street) in most countries of the world
does not cause criminal punishment, which residents of the post-Soviet space can only
dream of.
On the territory of the ex-USSR there is a certain corpus of swear words (for them there is
even a term unique to us, "non censorshipable"), the use of which is almost guaranteed to
form a corpus delicti. The new Criminal Code of Ukraine in its XIIth chapter "Crimes against
public order and morality" has Article 296, which rather vaguely interprets the term
"hooliganism", for which you can get a restriction of freedom for a period of up to five years.
The Administrative Code also provides for correctional labor for a period of one to two
months with a deduction of twenty percent of earnings, or administrative arrest for a period
of up to fifteen days for swearing in public places. Ukrainian law enforcement officers
successfully used these laws to fight public activists. Thus, in November 2011, the police
detained two men for using obscene language during a Freedom Day rally on Independence
Square in Kyiv. Regarding the detainees, administrative protocols were drawn up under the
article "minor hooliganism". The situation is the same in Belarus and Russia, where
oppositionists are grabbed right on the street and on the basis of the testimony of only the
police themselves, a protocol is drawn up for "obscene statements."

However, if the state has no reason for repression, then citizens do not deny themselves the
pleasure of using prohibited vocabulary. In post-Soviet society, the use of profanity as a full-
fledged part of everyday vocabulary indicates a person's low level of education and social
status. But when such words unexpectedly fall from a lower level of mimesis to a higher one,
it causes a comic effect. A typical example is the video clip "Weather Forecast from Gopnik
on the Inter TV channel", when a low educated passenger tries to imitate a typical weather
forecast style, using his primitive, slang and obscene lexicon. But no linguistic evolution of
swearing, no typically Western polymorphism in our environment is even impossible to
imagine. Why?

Russians and Ukrainians call the most obscene part of their language “mat”. This term
derives from the word “mother” and means, that it is intended to offend a mother of an
offended person. Russian writer Viktor Yerofeev believes that "mat is the language of
obedience, it is an order, it is the language of violence, and it is also an archaic language."
The last definition in this list is the most important, as it characterizes our society, because
we live in an archaic world, and at least 90% of our fellow citizens consciously or
unconsciously believe in the magical power of words. This faith is so powerful and invincible
that, like a black hole, it pulls even completely innocent words into itself. Popular on the
Internet YouTube video "Severe Donetsk parking attendant and Snail" is a vivid example of
such a situation. When a man utters the word "snail" in a dense stream of swearing, it
unexpectedly takes on a powerfully abusive tone.

Archaic consciousness, belief in spells, quirks turns our language from an obedient tool into
some unpredictable system of signs, when the same word, depending on certain
circumstances, can cause a smile, shame, discomfort or arrest. Modern writers successfully
use this situation to create an original linguistic environment in the text and expand its
semantic horizons. A typical example here is the play by Ukrainian author Les Podervyansky
with the eloquent title "Pizdets" (Fuck Up). It depicts a model of the post-Soviet society in
the form of a closed space of a freight car with the symbolic inscription E=МС2. Artists
Magarych, Omelyan Kosopyzd, Khariton Uyobyshchenko, Nazar Sivukha and Alfred
Zolupenko (all their Ukrainian surnames have very obscene or silly meaning) live in the car.
From time to time, the train conductor Luda (whom all the above-mentioned artists “fuck
sometimes in turn and sometimes in other way”) brings rations to the car - food of extremely
low quality (mostly cheap pasta and compote). For this food, the artists agree to stay in a
locked freight car all the time and talk about various possible ways of sexually arousing
women. In the middle of the work, two engineers Gavryusha Obizyanov and Stepan Sraka
try to get into the car, and later - the scientist Shlyoma Gomelsky. These people are
burdened with the burden of social responsibility that life imposes on them:

Gavryusha Obizyanov. According to our data, if the construction does not begin now, it will
certainly begin in the next quarter.
Stepan Sraka (frightened). And what will happen then, Havryusha?
Gavryusha Obizyanov (spits). Fuck prison!

Therefore, the way of existence of artists seems to engineers to be full of heavenly

pleasures. In fact, artists are in a ghetto that the totalitarian state created for them to
protect themselves from political criticism through the powerful means of art. But later the
dictatorship collapsed, and the French bourgeois nationalist Roger Horody triumphantly
appeared on the scene to return artists to their eternal function of transforming reality into
artistic images. He calls on the artists to get out of the wagon and be free, but they refuse,
because they are already used to Luda’s rations and, quite likely, have learned over the years
to create anything but official propaganda. ("We'll be agitating for the hell of it! We'll agitate
whoever you want!" says Omelyan Kosopyzd to Roger Horody). It is at this moment that the
Bible Prophet Samuel appears. He represents the punishment of higher powers for
amorphousness and indifference of these artists. Samuel knocks out the "irons" from under
the wheels of the freight car, and it rushes at great speed to the slope, where the mass
accumulated over many years of creative inactivity is instantly transformed into explosive
energy according to Einstein's formula E=MC2:

Luda. And where is the car? Where are the boys?

Prophet Samuel. Where, where… fucking there! Look better!

At the same moment, a terrible explosion is heard from the side where the car drove. Luda
drops pans and freezes in place.

Prophet Samuel. How nervous you are! Fucking fuck!

In this play, cursing and surzhik (a peculiar mix of Russian and Ukrainian languages popular
in some regions of Ukraine amongst poor and low educated people) play a special
ornamental role. They turn artists, engineers, and scientists—in fact, the intelligentsia, the
driving force of society—into a homogeneous marginal mass of declassified operetta
buffoons. The only question that arises is why the Prophet Samuel uses the same language.
The answer to it is obvious — since religion is a part of the cultural environment, it must
use its language. Samuel, in this case, is not a real character, but only a temporary
fluctuation—a deviation from the normal state of things—that appeared as a result of the
degraded cultural practices of the protagonists. It can be said that the artists themselves
created an explosive situation and the catalyst of the explosion is the Prophet Samuel.