The last traditional taboo

This week in a presentation on Australian Slang I was asked how it was that so many of the younger generation, including young women, used the f-word freely in a way that shocked the older generation but didn’t seem to trouble them in the slightest.  I talked about taboo words, how they were a part of language because we needed something to say when we hit our thumbs with a hammer or when we wanted to express how strong our emotions were. But taboos are taught to us in childhood and the message can change.  Usually the change is much slower than the changes in lexicon or grammar but it can happen and it has happened in our lifetime.

In the 1600s the taboo was taking the name of God in vain so swear words like ‘sblood (God’s blood) or struth (God’s truth)  were shocking. Nowadays, if we understand them at all, we think they are quaint.  After that the taboos were associated with sex and bodily functions, so the f-word has been totally off limits for a few centuries.  But now the younger generation, perhaps because they have been brought up with sex education from an early age, perhaps because American films and TV have hammered us with every variation of the f-word for so long, find it completely harmless.

The taboos, I would argue, have shifted to derogatory terms relating to race, religion or appearance.

As the previous taboos faded there was still the c-word, still so shocking that no one would dare to use it in public.  Of course in the 1600s when ‘sblood was so shocking, queynte (as the c-word was spelled then) was neither here nor there (as illustrated in Canterbury Tales).

In one of her Weekend Reads Virginia Triolli told us that she and her friends use the c-word affectionately to each other, that the c-word has acquired an adjective c—nty which is a term of admiration as in a c—ty little bob hairstyle, and that there is a new look  — ‘boots, a cute skirt and a give-no-damn attitude that they call “looking c—nty”’.

It seems that, along with the f-word, the c-word has fallen, and there are no traditional taboos left.