“Handy Little Cuss Words.”

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 177, 14 April 1923, Page 13

“Handy Little Cuss Words.”

Some Interesting History about Swearing.

IT can scarcely be denied that one result of the late war has been an increase of swearing. This (writes H. M. Pauli in “John 0’ London’s Weekly”), can hardly be wondered at; when passions are excited ordinary language seems inadequate. Uncle Toby, in “Tristram Shandy,” states that “our Army swore terribly in Flanders” : our modern Army suit. Even “Punch” was affected in, the same way, and, to the surprise of many of its readers, “hell” and “damn” appeared in its pages. Swearing has been a habit more or less prevalent from pagan times. Under the Puritan regime it was: confined to the Royalists; oaths were unknown in tho army of the Commonwealth. But on the return of the Stuarts the populace revenged themselves for the restrictions they had endured, and the habit reached its culmination. Everyone swore on the slightest provocation, or on none whatever. Congreve’s plays afford a good example of the conversation of the society of his time. In “The Way of the World” Sir Wilful Witwoud swears freely, even in the presence of tflie ladies, without rebuke, and his vocabulary is extensive: “Oons, odso, ’s death.” and so forth, are freely sprinkled over the pages. Lady Wichfort exclaims, “’Ods my life!” and Mrs. Foresight, in “Love for Love,” ejaculates, “O Demn you, toad!” an expression which seems an attempt to render ladylike the masculine “damn.”

Somewhat later Pope adds his testimony. To “swear like a lord” is to be found in the Epilogue to his Satires. It was not a vice in which he indulged, and in his panegyric of ttiis father he puts to his credit the fact that he “Nor dared an oath, nor hazarded a lie.” As Richardson wrote his novels with a moral purpose, and was aware that his'readers were mostly women, it wa® natural that he did not sully his pages so freely as did some of his contemporaries. But even his ladies indulged in such expressions as “What a ducel” and “What a pize!” whatever the latter may mean; no one seems to know. The fine gentlemen swore habitually, though tho presence of ladies acted as some restraint. Even the highly proper Lord G. (in “Sir (Charles Grandison”)’ was once betrayed, almost justifiably, by his wife’s teasing to an indiscretion. “ 'Oons, madam,’ said he, and he Kemboed his arms.”

For which explosion he was roundly scolded by 'the two ladies present, his wife exclaiming, “Such a word I never heard from your Lordship’s lips”: whilst his “Kemboed arms” received equal condemnation. Readers of “Tristram Shandy” will remember the discussion of this themo between Mr. Shandy, Uncle Toby, and Dr. Slop; the Doctor having sworn profusely at Obadiah, Shandy thus reproved him:—

“Small curses, Dr. Slop, upon great occasions are but so much waste of our strength and souls’ health to no manner of purpose: . . . for my own part, I seldom swear or curse at all—l hold it bad—but if I fall into it by surprise I generally retain so much presence of mind as to make it answer my purpose—that is I swear on till I find mysulf easy.”

He warmly approved of a gentleman who composed “fit forms of swearing suitable to all cases,” which he kept on his mantelpiece ready for use.

The subject, which seems to have had a great attraction for Sterne, is treated of further in Chapter XII. of Book 111. and other places; but probably reader’s will call to mind more readily the celebrated incident in/the story of Lc ’Rever, who was on the point of death:—

“A-well-o’-day do what we can for him,” said Trim, maintaining his point—-“the poor soul will die.” “He shall not die, by G !” cried my uncle Toby. The “Accusing Spirit” which flew up to. Heaven’s chancery with the oath, blushed as he gave it in; and the “Recording Angel,” as he wrote it down, dropped a tear upon the word and blotted it out for ever.

DR. JOHNSON’S REBUKE. In spite of, or because of, the popularity of the vice, protests were not wanting; and in 1745 an Act was passed against profane swearing, under which a labourer was to be fined one shilling, those below the rank of gentleman two shillings, and gentlemen five shillings, for each offence; but, like many other attempts to reform morals by law, it effected little. Dr. Johnson abandoned the habit early in life, and greatly objected to it; he speaks with contempt of a man half of whose talk consisted of oaths. On one occasion he swore cJhtinuously on purpose to Shame a profane man: a curious way of protest which we must hope wag effective.

Sheridan touched on the subject with sarcasm in his first play, “The Rivals” (1775). In accordance with custom, Sir Anthony Absolute swears freely in the usual manner, as does also the gentlemanly Faulkland, but Bob Acres indulges in curious expletives: “odds swimming,” “odds triggers and flints,” and so forth. This arouses the curiosity of his friend, Captain Absolute, who remarks, “But pray, Bob’, I observe you have got an odd kind of a new method of swearing.” Acres: “Ha! ha! you’ve taken notice of it—’tis genteel, isn’t it?” He prophesies that other forms of imprecation will soon be obsolete: “Damns have had their day.” Few prophecies have proved so fallacious.

Later on in the play Acres himself forgets his dictum. When writing his challenge he implores Sir Lucius to let him “begin with a damme!”

It has often been asserted that it is impossible to draw a true picture of low life without giving to the characters the language they habitually use. Certainly some of our modern novelists seem unable to do so. On the other hand, Gay, in his “Beggar’s Opera,” depicted highwaymen, thieves, and women of the town without using an oath: the nearest approach being, “What a "dickens” and “What a plague.”