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Judas Priest!
December 29, 2005, 12:25
neveuJudas Priest!
Is there a name for expressions like Judas Priest, Goshdarn, frickin' and other substitutions for expletives and curses more specific than 'euphemism'?
December 29, 2005, 19:25
KallehGood question! I Googled a bit, looking for something, and while I found a
lot of interesting sites on swearing (including an interesting discussion of "deplorable words" on Languagehat), I couldn't find the word you're looking for.
I did find this funny story on Phrase Finder that is halfway related:
"As an aside, and because I am a compulsive story-teller, I have to relate the oddest use of a euphemism for swearing I've come across. In high school, there was a very large girl - think 6'3" - from somewhere down South. As if to make up for her stature, she was ultra feminine, dressing in copious layers of pink chiffon. She never swore openly but gritted her teeth and exclaimed 'Well Sugar, Honey, Ice, Tea!'"
December 29, 2005, 19:57
<Asa Lovejoy>I am reminded of a Texas school, the Sam Houston Institute of Technology.
December 29, 2005, 20:07
zmježd It'll never replace Jim McCawley's (aka Quang Phuc Dong) South Hanoi Institute of Technology.
—Ceci n'est pas un seing.
December 30, 2005, 14:33
neveuSounds like it's a common enough phenomenon that it should have a name. If it doesn't turn up soon, I suggest we coin one.
December 30, 2005, 18:04
wordnerdExcellent idea, neveu.
I started with
malediction and then looked for latinate prefixes that mean "to clean up". Possibilities found are
tersus: wiped off, clean, neat;
excurare: clean off;
purus: pure, clean;
cluere: to cleanse. These would give us
tersidiction, excuradiction, purudiction, and
cluerdiction, none of which particularly strike my personal fancy.
Ah, but how about
purgadiction, based on
purgare: cleanse, purify. Its sound gives a clue to the meaning, echoing the word
purge, which is from the same root, and which implies "getting the sh*t out".
December 30, 2005, 19:09
<Asa Lovejoy>quote:
(aka Quang Phuc Dong)
Didn't he have a sister named Long Suk Dong?
December 30, 2005, 19:10
<Asa Lovejoy>quote:
Ah, but how about [i]purgadiction
Sounds like talk about vomit.
December 31, 2005, 00:50
neveuSurely some 19th Century German linguist must have named it something -- deschiessenwortemachen or something.
December 31, 2005, 08:29
zmježdI don't quite see what's wrong with
euphemism. There is a linguistic process called
taboo deformation. I have always heard expressions like
dog gone and
cripes described as euphemisms. Why do you need this new word?
—Ceci n'est pas un seing.
December 31, 2005, 10:48
neveuquote:
Why do you need this new word?
Because I'm sure it exists, and because euphemism is too broad. Every language seems to have a set of forbidden words, and an associated set of words that stand for these words, and everyone knows they stand for these words, but it's ok for Mom to say them. Euphemism can mean using "passed on" for "died", but it's ok for Mom to just say "died".
Maybe taboo deformation is what I'm looking for. Or maybe euphemism is the word I'm looking for, but its definition has been broadened to cover more territory.
December 31, 2005, 11:05
zmježdquote:
Because I'm sure it exists, and because euphemism is too broad.
Well, good luck.
—Ceci n'est pas un seing.
December 31, 2005, 17:31
Kallehquote:
Why do you need this new word?
I had a feeling that would be Zmj's stance on this.
To be honest, I hate euphemisms. The "passed on" or "passed away" or "passed" for "died" annoys me no end. Or all the euphemisms about going to the bathroom, or whatever, are just plain annoying to me.