Philologists explained why we swear and why we are forbidden to do it: their answers will definitely surprise you.
The great and the mighty can be replenished with new curses. Well, well, do not rush to rub your hands, lovers of the three-story building. Linguistics is not a constitution for you, it does not change overnight. But over the years, now decent words can become terrible insults and will certainly be in disgrace with the Roskomnadzor of the XXII century.
The expansion of the list of forbidden words is predicted by Doctor of Philology Galina Mandrikova from Novosibirsk. Swearing is her strong point. He even reads lectures about this to students (philologists and journalists) - at the Faculty of Humanities Education at NSTU.
MOTHER - AS SPELLS
Homegrown historians blame the Tatar-Mongol yoke: they say it was they, the occupiers, who taught us to swear. Galina Mikhailovna, hearing this theory, smiles. Choice Russian swearing is our native heritage.
“These words, or rather, their roots, are what remains of ancient magic, pagan rituals,” the philologist assures. - Any mythology explains the phenomena of the world as the vital activity of the gods. There is a Mother - a damp earth, there is a certain Supreme (heavenly) god. These are two principles - male and female. And in order to have a harvest, rain, thunder, lightning are needed - the ways of their explicit (understandable for people) intercourse, after which the harvest appears. To trigger this process, people used special words (such is agricultural magic). Then they were not yet banned.
The taboo of such words and expressions began with the advent of Christianity. Where Christianity is, there is no place for magic. People forgot about the reasons for the ban, but a wary attitude towards "magic" words remained.
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“I don’t use them myself, because I understand their initial sacred meaning,” the doctor of philological sciences admits.
In general, a complete Hogwarts. Remember Avada Kedavra's death spell? For him, even in a fairy tale - a life sentence, you better not pronounce it! So our ancestors imposed a ban on eerie magical exclamations.
COME TO ME FOR TREATMENT - YOU WILL MAKE LOUDLY
The supernatural power of an obscene word is greater than the fantasies of pagans. Philologists count about 30 mate functions. Among them, don't laugh, magical again.
- For example, a person enters an unfamiliar abandoned house, or in the dark goes down to the basement, or climbs into some kind of hatch … Of course, he feels fear. If he swears at such moments, this will be a manifestation of the magical function. In this situation, swear words are used as a kind of talisman against evil spirits, - explains our interlocutor. “In addition, as Leon Arbatsky (compiler of the Explanatory Dictionary of Russian Abuse) wrote,“swearing is a safety valve through which anger bursts out - and we again return to our usual state of tender love for our neighbor.” Thus, we can talk about the psychophysiological function of the mat.
So the "magic wand" has two ends: it can cause trouble, it can protect. But what about the other features?
Imagine a construction site. The workers went to smoke and chatted. And here - the foreman. He took in air in his lungs and gave out a three-story one. You look, the case is arguing again. This function is mobilizing and stimulating. It happens to be used in offices. But even more popular is in the army.
One more function adjoins the named functions - mat as a universal information carrier. This is when you replace any concept with swear words depending on the situation. There are such masters of literature among the people that they are able to express any thought with a set of forbidden words!
Swearing also has exotic functions. One of them is used in psychotherapy. A patient came with sexual problems - they ask him to tell about everything without censorship. I spoke out, took my soul away, felt the prohibitions fall asleep - you look, and the problem will be resolved. This is a healing function.
Only, dear reader, do not use without a doctor. And who knows how this magic "pill" will affect you.
PUSHKIN DID SOMETHING WRONG
Lowering the social status of the addressee is also a function. In general, it does not imply aggression. It's just that one person scolded the other, belittled him, and he seemed to rise up.
The function of social freedom stands next to it. Here the feeling is: "Look, I can afford it, but you, an intellectual, can not."
- And also such vocabulary saved a lot of lives. Due to the dueling function. Two quarreled: "Fool!" - "You yourself are a fool!" We had a fight, threw out energy and dispersed. And they could have killed each other, - Galina Mikhailovna gives an example. - This is how verbal aggression can replace non-verbal aggression … Just remember: your verbal aggression should not interfere with other people, so do not swear in public places and not in front of women or children … Well, you all know that!
It's even a shame that Pushkin and Dantes did not stop there. How did it happen? After all, Alexander Sergeevich did not go into his pocket for a word. All the more abusive.
- There is, after all, the opposite application of obscene expressions. Once they sounded in military rituals. Before they clashed in battle, the enemies sent specially trained people who showered the enemies with abuse in order to demoralize them and more easily deal with them. So a modern man's fight often begins with insults - a battlefield … - continues Galina Mandrikova.
A WOMAN WHO WAS LOST
The list of forbidden words is constantly growing. In any case, there are prerequisites for this: a decent concept, which is often replaced by a mat, that is, the so-called euphemism, gradually becomes a curse. There is an example - a word that got into the Roskomnadzor stop-list together with "pagan spells." It is actually much younger. And earlier it meant a prodigal woman.
- Let's remember how a woman is called a "light" behavior. What does this word mean? This word is "lost." That is, a woman with very bad qualities was called a very decent word. We could say they did. Well, she lost her way, lost her way. What eventually became of the word? Now it is advisable not to pronounce it, - says Galina Mikhailovna. “This can happen with modern euphemisms, that is, with those words that we“culturally”pronounce instead of obscenities. Yes, here's the same "damn", for example …
However, it is still difficult to identify candidates for future curses. Who knows how the evolution of the great and mighty will turn! Maybe a harmless "edrit" or a melodic and foreign (thanks to Oleg Gazmanov) Italian "confused" will become a terrible curse.
Yes, we borrow swear words from a foreign language. It happens that we pronounce a different word in English. And no one is confused when a Russian person exclaims the overseas "fak!" If this takes root, the word can gain expression and enter the category of swearing.
HOW DO THEM?
Clumsy is worse than a dog
It seems to many that few peoples have such strong insults as the Russians. Our swearing at the most sacred encroaches upon our mother. And this is not only the one who gave birth. Since pagan times, this word has meant mother earth, nature, the universe itself. That is why our curses are so sacred.
Poles, for example, call names a dog. Why didn't the animal please them? It's just that now it is a friend of man, but before it was the personification of the devil. However, in the Russian language this fact is also reflected: "the dog is a dog's death", "die like a dog", "angry like a dog", "son of a bitch" - it's all from there.
In some African countries, offensive words can hint at incest: this is a sore and therefore taboo topic. But any terms of traditional sex can be pronounced boldly - no one will be offended, this is a natural thing!
And in the North, a terrible insult is clumsy. This may be the name of a person who fails hunting. Well, what to stand on ceremony with such?
VADIM ALEXEEV