Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Alternate Swear Words

In light of all the frustration I've been feeling lately (mainly because of having a million things to do and not having enough time to do them all), I thought it only appropriate I write about swear words in this week's blog topic – but not just any old swear words, but alternate (and sometimes funny) swear words.

For instance, I used to love how Sarah Chalke's character on “Scrubs” would say “Fric!” instead of, well, you know. On my favorite not-so-politically-correct British sitcom, “Father Ted,” they were quite fond of using the word “feck” or “feck off.”

Young Ralphie in “The Christmas Story” used the word “fudge,” only that's not what he really said (the narrator says), which earned his mouth a date with a bar of soap.

I used to know a lady who sometimes said, “that's just duckie!” Being a mother I guess she felt she ought to exercise some restraint, but if things ever got really bad, I'm sure she slipped up occasionally.

Having visited and lived in Britain for about 10 years, I managed to pick up quite a lot of the British slang, which of course included off-colour phrases like “sod off!” or “bullocks.”

Of course in other languages there is subtle body language that is as good as swearing like when you give somebody the middle finger in America. In Britain it's the two finger salute, so if someone looks like they're flashing you the peace sign and you only see the back of their hand, it's not a friendly gesture.

No comments: