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Sacré bleu!

Language Log 2025-10-21

I could write an entire post about this euphemistic French oath (lit., "sacred blue"), but I leave it to LL readers to figure out how it fits in to what follows.  Nowadays it is used more in English than in French.  (Wiktionary; Wikipedia)

Italian blasphemy and German ingenuity: how swear words differ around the world Once dismissed as a sign of low intelligence, researchers now argue the ‘power’ of taboo words has been overlooked  Ashifa Kassam, The Guardian (10/19/25)

The number and nature of swear words in different cultures reveals a lot about the predispositions of the people who speak the languages of those societies.

When researchers asked people around the world to list every taboo word they could think of, the differences that emerged were revealing. The length of each list, for example, varied widely.

While native English speakers in the UK and Spanish speakers in Spain rattled off an average of 16 words, Germans more than tripled this with an average of 53 words ranging from intelligenzallergiker, a person allergic to intelligence, to hodenkobold, or “testicle goblin”, someone who is being annoying.

The results, researchers say, hint at how the overlooked field of social faux pas – whether it be swearing, insults or other off-limit language – can help us better understand the values, boundaries and shifting norms that shape different cultures.

“These words can be more offensive, or less, they can be loaded with negativity or with irony,” said Jon Andoni Duñabeitia, a cognitive scientist and professor at Madrid’s Nebrija University. “But taken together, they offer small snapshots of the realities of each culture.”

One thing that needs to be considered in a study of slang in various cultures is that individual members of these cultures may have widely varying standards of what is beyond the bounds of acceptable behavior for his/her society.  For example, I have a colleague who is fond of hurling the f-bomb, even in faculty meetings, though no one else would dream of doing so.

When it came to the differences between Spanish and German speakers, Andoni Duñabeitia had two theories. German, with its seemingly endless capacity to build new compound words, could simply offer more options, he said. “But it could also be that some people [speaking other languages] just don’t have these words readily available, or it’s harder for them when asked to produce them in a very neutral environment,” he said.

The striking disparity of scatalogical vocabulary usage in various languages contrasts with words that seek to disparage women.  For instance, "bitch", turned up across cultures.  

“I think it comes down to the terribly sexist traditions of many countries,” said Andoni Duñabeitia, who was among the four dozen researchers involved with the 2024 study. “The vocabulary reflects the reality of societies where women have been mistreated, removed from everyday tasks and relegated to the background.”

Sexual terms also came up repeatedly, hinting at a near-universal discomfort with topics perceived to be private or indecent.
 
Blasphemy is in a whole different category of its own.
 
When Simone Sulpizio, a psychology professor at the University of Milano-Bicocca and lead author of the 2024 study, launched into the research, he expected to hear a cacophony of expletives related to the church. “But we were surprised because, while blasphemy was present in all of the languages, it was only among the most frequent in Italy,” said Sulpizio.
…
Sulpizio speculated it might be because of Italy’s proximity and longstanding relationship with the Vatican, as well as the enduring strength of Catholic tradition in the country. “So that’s an example of the impact of cultural or societal differences,” he said.
 
What about the frequency of swearing?  When I worked in factories in the Midwest and spent a lot of time in men's dormitories in Taiwan, it seemed that every third or fourth word was a swear word.
 
The research suggested a handful of constants that hold across most cultures: men are more likely to use taboo words than women, as are extroverts. On average, people swear once for every two minutes of speech. This rate, however, can vary widely depending on the setting, the topic and the relationship between those in the conversation.
 
What makes taboo words fascinating is that unlike most other parts of our vocabularies, they can be used positively or negatively, said Sulpizio. They hold extraordinary power, say researchers, who say they can be wielded to inflict harm or rattle power structures or, in turn, relieve stress and elicit humour. Swearing could even confer physical benefits, Sulpizio said, citing a study that asked people to say a normal word or a taboo word while holding their hand in ice. “When they produced the taboo word, they were able to keep their hand longer in the ice,” he said. “So these words can be used as kind of an emotional regulation tool.”
 
I do not know if the researchers included Japanese in their list of languages studied.  If they did, however, I think they would be surprised to learn that about the most vile curse in the language is "fool!" (baka na バカな!).
 
 
Selected readings

[h.t. François Lang]