Friday, August 5, 2016

Language Police

Warning: use of antiquated language now considered 'vulgar'.

  I am an amateur etymologist, no not bugs (entomologist), word origins.  I am also an amateur semanticist: the meanings of words and phrases in a particular context.  That is only one part of the word's meaning, but this is my primary focus.  This drives my family to distraction.
 Way back in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries a word was in common usage.  Now, it is considered a vulgarism, scatological.  The word is 'shit'.  As a verb,
  present tense: shit
       past tense: shat
    past perfect: shot

  Past perfect survives in reference to firearms, and as a noun for types of ammunition.

  I have provided this background information to provide context for the 'Warning'.

 The military has a saying: "A thousand 'Atta-boys' and a buck will get you a cup of coffee.  One 'Aw-shit' wipes 'em all out."  That is a scatological reference.

  Regardless, us moderns have inserted a limitation on language for no real reason.  Lately, it has been reported certain Web sites will not allow the use of Latin abbreviations, such as, for example, i.e., e.g. and etc.
  I personally have and will in the future rebel against such inanity.  Be advised, I will NOT provide warnings.
  Caveat emptor!

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