Thibault Serlet
  • Home
  • Book Reviews
  • Contact

Articles

​

A Cursory History of Swearing

2/18/2018

1 Comment

 
Picture
A Cursory History of Swearing
by Julian Sharman
Published in 1884
216 Pages
Thibault’s Score: 2/5


I decided to read this book as part of my recent interest in the pursuit of linguistics.


The first chapter was unpleasant to read, however the book gets better after chapter 2.


The writing style of this book is metaphorical, dense, and unclear. I found the language to be dated and sometimes difficult to read. Instead of simple sentences that convey meaning, the author waxes poetic, and writes long incomprehensible flourishes.


I found the book to be unscientific and rife with all of the prejudices of the Victorian age. The author makes broad assertions without evidence such as “the more swearing that there is in a society, the less truth there is.”


That being said, there were some tidbits of gold. For example, the author, in the second chapter,  observes that in many languages oaths eventually turned into swear words. Interestingly enough, the word “swear” can both mean “to say things which are rude” and “to pledge.”


I also learned a lot of etymological factoids. The French word “sacre bleu” came from the old expression “sacre dieu" which means “bless God.”


Overall, I didn’t really like the book, and only finished the first 5 chapters, because it was too unscientific. However, I may be biased against the book because I was listening to a poorly produced Librivox audiobook.
1 Comment
Surveying Connecticut link
2/28/2023 03:11:59 am

Great post thankyoou

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Thibault Serlet

    Most of my articles are book reviews, but I also write about many other topics.

    Archives

    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Book Reviews
  • Contact