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January 24, 2017 edition

It is fascinating to see how different languages handle profanity and abuse-where their sensitive spots are, so to speak. Some languages focus on religion and blasphemy. Some target ethnicity and appearance. Others curse with animal names, or parts of the body. Many languages, English included, have developed a rich vocabulary of abuse around sexual intercourse, genitalia, and excretion.
In times past, cursing in English was more religion-based than it is today. 'God's Blood' used to be an extreme profanity. Abuse words relating to sickness and disease, like 'poxy' or 'scurvy' were also much more common when disease itself was a curse. "A plague on both their houses," Mercutio famously says in Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare's plays are absolutely full of rich, inventive insults, but one word you will not find is today's most prevalent swear-word in English-the 'f' word. This is not because it was too offensive-but on the contrary, because in those days it was not. It was then a relatively recent addition to English meaning 'to copulate'. Today, 'f-k' is certainly not a word to be used in polite conversation, and is still coyly avoided in print (hence the hyphens). Yet it is one of the most colorful and versatile words in the English language, appearing in expressive combinations with various adverbs (off; about; around; up; with) and in various parts of speech (as noun, verb, adjective).

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More Word Watch articles in other editions

December 27, 2016 edition

Jennifer Lindsay*
Sitting at the airport in Bali on my way home from the Ubud Readers and Writers Festival, I had a great conversation with the psychologist and writer Danny Yatim about Indonesian emphasis words. All those dong-deh-nih-sih type words I wrote about in the last column. I find people always love to talk about fine details of Indonesian like these once you start asking interesting questions. And there is always so much to learn.
Danny showed how the meaning of 'yes' changes when you combine it with one of the five main Jakarta particles or insert words. Of course, also you have to factor in intonation, which is an important aspect of using these words. Firstly, the most emphatically positive, 'ya, dong!' meaning, 'yes of course', 'sure!' Then there is 'ya dh', said in a low tone, which emphasizes agreement, also meaning 'of course', but has the nuance of 'well, yes, if you insist', or 'yes, okay then'. If you add 'sih' to make 'ya sih', it conveys 'yes, on second thoughts I agree' or 'yes, I suppose you are right'. You are agreeing with someone, but rather weakly. If you add 'ah' to make 'ya'ah', then the speaker's discomfort and hesitancy is clearer still. 'Ya'ah' is 'yes, alright (if you say so)'. So those four different emphasis words express different levels of comfort in affirmation. And then there is the particle 'kan' which is used to make 'ya, kan?' which means 'you see'? and when that 'kan' is drawn out with a rising tone, 'ya, kaaan?' it means 'I told you so!'

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