The sweary links are arriving thick and fast these days. Here’s a fresh batch of foul-mouthed items of interest.
The Globe and Mail, having published the band name Fucked Up, robustly defends the decision.
It wasn’t all nasty, brutish and short. Countering the myth of Anglo-Saxon swearing.
Finding the poetry in Kim Sears’ profanity.
Fuck your moralistic hand-wringing: women swear too (and always have done).
A selection of insults and profanities from around the world.
17thC woodcut showing the dangers of swearing (via @nllspace and @DaintyBallerina). Stop me if I’m reading this wrong, but it looks to me like if you swear you get extendable eyes like Mantenna or you’re whisked off for some aerial lovin’ from a tall dark stranger. Maybe the danger is that you’ll enjoy it too goddamn much.
Strong Language 
The Globe and Mail’s decision to print “Fucked Up” without expurgation stands in marked contrast to The New York Times. See my Language Log posts, “Music review: ********” and “Times bowdlerizes column on Times bowdlerization.”
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Thanks for the links, Ben. Even by the NYT’s standards of bowdlerisation, that is ********. I mean, fucked up.
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Another one for you – a quantitative analysis of how often Nature gives a fuck http://stuartcantrill.com/2015/02/08/a-quantitative-analysis-of-how-often-nature-gives-a-fuck/
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Thanks, Simon – we shared that one from our Twitter account yesterday. Swearwords’ infrequent appearance in the journal tends to make each instance interesting in its own right.
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Thanks for the Globe & Mail link. I saw the issue in question and thought to myself, “Hmm. That’s new.” I was also impressed by their courage, knowing its conservative readership.
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Ross: Yes, absolutely. They knew they would take heat for it and probably lose a few subscribers, but they committed to the principle.
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I found your blog via:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:News_for_editors#2014_December
After a quick skim, I emailed an editor friend of mine the simple message, “Stronglang.wordpress.com is the shit!” I’m probably not the first to say so, however.
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Either way, Geekdivaherself, we appreciate it. And it’s good to know we’re news for editors – as one of that tribe I find swearing an essential part of the job.
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