Slinging Slangs

* September 2010.
(This is about slangs ... so in case you find such things "disturbing" ... DON'T read further !!!)


My thinking Chimp asked "where did swear words come from?" I  have thought about this for quite sometime now ... I mean especially since I have landed in Grenoble, I have been thinking hard on it. But I can never get very far as nobody really knows how they came about... they just love to sling it ...
I wonder what joy it gives people to swear at someone ... mostly randomly, but sometimes as meaningful expressions !!! Whether sitting on a roller-coaster that literally scares you to death ... or being extremely annoyed by another person who we feel has wronged us ... anger ! fear ! envy ! Oh yes ... they all have this effect on people. Not that I have never bad-mouthed... in a couple of extremely emotional turbulent situations ... Yes ... but I have checked myself .
Well, I never have been quite an admirer of slang ... in fact I used to stop my friends from this random distortion of language and expression (and I continue to do so even in the face of vehement reluctance). Some understood my point, (or rather realized it when they were are the receiving end) but many ... mannnnnnnnnyyyyyyyy did not. Since, the numbers of the latter group by far exceeds people of my preferences in this matter (also in my new found abode) ... I hereby attempt to understand the joy that they supposedly derive from these words ... (that they claim I shall NEVER understand until I join the league). So I started thinking where and when did these actually become "bad" or rather more agreeably hush hush words in a "family setting".
Lets see ...
SH*T : everybody's favourite (age range from 11 years onwards) !! So much so that very often we do not realize that we have used it (well, we cannot be blamed if it has been in such use for more than a 1000 years now). One of the casual words that are thrown in to sentences for sheer impact rather than any meaning. This word originated somewhere in northern Germany and drifted with the Anglo-Saxons. The latter used the term scittan when their cattle had diarrhoea, which can be traced back to its Old Norse origins in the word skitta that is still used in Iceland. Bull-sh*t / crap are other forms of the excretory form of slanging.

Pi*s : One of the mildest of the lot, it comes from the sound during urination ! Children learn this or other forms of this word like, wee-wee (and poo-poo for sh*t etc) pretty young ... and parents do not even realize that these are slangs.

FU*K : This too has a Germanic origin and passed into the English language through the Dutch about the 15th century. According to a legend associated with the use of this word and its origins, rapist in olden times were branded with this word on their forehead as the old name for the crime of rape was called 'Forced Unlawful Carnal Knowledge". Also during that time Europe bore the brunt of the Great Plague which killed people all over Europe for over 150 years. The final blow came in about 1665 in Britain where about 100,000 people died. During this time it became imperative to increase population. So a royal injunction was issued that directed the masses to "Fornicate Under Command of the King" that was abbreviated later.
This has a LOT of Indian forms that are frequently used, especially by males, predominantly in top half of the sub-continent.