<p>Who is the author of Holy Sh*t?</p>

<p>The author of Holy Sh*t is Melissa Mohr.</p>

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Holy Sh*t Book Summary - Holy Sh*t Book explained in key points

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Name: Holy Sh*t
Rating: 4.1 (54 reviews)
Author: Melissa Mohr

Melissa Mohr

A Brief History of Swearing

4.1 (54 ratings)

17 mins

Brief summary

Holy Sh*t by Melissa Mohr explores the history and cultural implications of swearing. With a mix of humor and scholarship, the book argues that swearing can serve important social and emotional functions, and reflects on why some swear words are more taboo than others.

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Language Culture Ancient History

Table of Contents

Holy Sh*t
Summary of 8 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 8

What’s in it for me? Explore the checkered past of the sh*t we’ve said throughout the ages.

We’ve all heard someone complain about the rude language in films and on TV. And while you might feel indifferent to some of the words other people find offensive, phrases that an older generation consider neutral might sound harsh to your ears.

Welcome to the history of swearing!

Cursing, profanity and bad language aren’t new developments in human history. These practices have always been with us, with the words that cause offense simply changing over time. Much like music trends, some swear words come back, while others are forever forgotten. These blinks will satiate your curiosity about the words we use as obscenities and why we swear in the first place.

A polite word of warning before you start, though: as you might have guessed, these blinks contain very strong, offensive language.

In these blinks, you’ll learn

how Victorians reacted to the word “leg”;
which current swear words were part of everyday speech in the Middle Ages; and
why “fuck” became popularized as a swear word during the first half of the twentieth century.

The Romans swore like sailors, but about different things than modern people.

Imagine you’re strolling through the column-lined walkways of Pompeii, Italy, a city preserved just as it was nearly 2,000 years ago. As you’re taking in the ancient Roman architecture and basking in the history of the place, you suddenly encounter some seriously obscene graffiti.

That’s right, the Romans were no strangers to swearing, although they swore slightly differently to how we do today; the words thought of as most offensive in ancient Rome were the result of a unique take on sex and gender.

Instead of seeing sexuality in terms of heterosexual or homosexual, as is common today, the Romans viewed sex as either an active or passive act. Being active was related to masculinity and, therefore, implying that a man held a passive role in a sexual act was considered the greatest offense. According to Roman sexual norms, an “active” man should have the desire to penetrate; whether that desire was for women, men or boys was totally irrelevant.

Given this cultural norm, the worst insult you could hurl at a Roman man was to accuse him of cunnum lingere, or as we know it today, cunnilingus. As a result, one of the pieces of graffiti in Pompeii reads Corus cunnum lingit, or “Corus licks cunt.” Naturally, it’s somewhat shocking for us to read these words now, and they were just as obscene in Roman times.

The tremendous taboo surrounding cunnilingus can be attributed to the ancient Roman belief that penetrating another person is desirable, while being penetrated by someone is a sign of femininity. Therefore, a man, with the ability to penetrate, who instead chose to perform cunnilingus was shamed and seen as emasculated.

One Roman epigram that highlights this fact reads, “Zoilus, you spoil the bathtub washing your arse. To make it filthier, Zoilus, stick your head in it.” To break it down a little, since Zoilus performs cunnilingus, the speaker asserts that his mouth is dirtier than his rear.

The Old Testament saw the rise of religious swearing.

So, ancient Romans used claims about oral sex to slander people, but the Old Testament employed an entirely different type of swearing: the oath. In this context, swearing wasn’t a way to shock and offend people, but was instead used to back up claims.

In other words, the Old Testament teaches people to swear oaths by God because doing so is essential to the smooth operation of society.

Euphemisms are a no-no in the New Testament.

If the Old Testament is all about oaths, the New Testament focuses on obscene language, or more specifically, its regulation. To do so, it outlines rules for speech that forbids vulgar language and even restricts euphemisms.

For instance, the Old Testament is full of euphemistic language, like one passage from Song of Songs that reads, “My beloved thrust his hand into the opening, and my inmost being yearned for him.” Here, “hand” actually refers to “genitals,” although lots of scholars claim this piece of writing has nothing to do with sex and is instead about God’s love for Israel.

Many contemporary swear words were commonplace in the medieval era, but religious swearing carried the most power.

Most people think of words like “bollocks,” “cunt” and “whore” as modern curses, but they date back to medieval times, where they were commonly bandied about. The difference is that, back then, these and other words relating to the body weren’t considered obscene.

For instance, “cunt” and “arse” were the standard words for describing those respective body parts and were often found in children’s books designed to teach Latin. In fact, these books even contained such useful phrases for a young boy as “you stink,” “turd in your teeth” and “he is the biggest coward that ever pissed.”

During the Renaissance, obscenities relating to excrement made a comeback.

As Protestantism rose across Europe and oaths lost their power to shock and offend, swearing began to shift away from the holy and back toward the obscene.

Protestants believe that God lacks a physical body and therefore can’t be touched. As a result, oaths necessarily couldn’t be thought of as directly reaching God and therefore began to lose their perceived efficacy. In addition, the sheer volume of oaths people were required to take made their swearing by God less meaningful.

The Victorians were so repressed that even the word “leg” conjured thoughts too taboo for public discourse.

As industrialization took hold across the Western world, the Victorians of nineteenth-century Britain found an outlet for swearing – but under a different guise. At this point, privacy was no longer a luxury of the rich; the middle and lower classes were becoming increasingly civilized, which in turn made sexuality and excrement deeply shameful for everyone.

As a result, bodily functions that were once carried out in public with total nonchalance were now hidden, only performed behind the closed doors that the population could now afford. In this way, bathroom time fell out of sight and out of mind, becoming taboo in the process.

In the Victorian era, obscenities became swear words as people began to use them figuratively.

The Victorian era was marked by an extreme repression in language and it gave rise to modern swear words. These were obscenities used in a nonliteral manner, solely to assert emotional power.

For instance, bugger was one of the most prevalent. It began its life as a word literally referring to the penetrating party in anal intercourse, but over time its literal meaning faded and it transformed from an obscenity into a swear word. These days, when one describes something as “buggered over,” it’s meant as “messed up” and does not imply any literal meaning.

Today, a new class of obscene words carry the most weight – racial slurs.

Throughout the First and Second World Wars, swearing was so normal in the armed forces that saying “fuck” barely garnered a response. A collection of slang words from the First World War might shed some light on this, as it explains that “fucking” simply meant a threat like a shell or attack was “incoming.”

In fact, the word was so frequently uttered that the phrase, “get your rifles!” provoked greater urgency than the same phrase with “fucking” included. This just goes to show how frequent swearing can reduce its impact, and the same goes for sexual swearing.

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What is Holy Sh*t about?

Holy Sh*t (2013) is a journey through the history of swearing. Starting in ancient Rome and coming up to the present day, these blinks delve into the cultures of different periods to highlight the rich evolution of swear words and obscenities throughout history.

Holy Sh*t Review

Holy Sh*t by Melissa Mohr (2013) is an insightful and entertaining exploration of swear words and their historical significance. Here's why this book is definitely worth reading:

It provides fascinating historical context to often-overlooked words, shedding light on their origins, evolution, and cultural impact.
Engaging anecdotes and examples from literature, film, and everyday life make the book a captivating journey through the world of profanity.
The author's balanced and humorous approach ensures that the book is never dry or dull, making it an enjoyable and thought-provoking read.

Best quote from Holy Sh*t

Romans shouted obscene language relating to genitalia and sex during wedding ceremonies to promote fertility.

—Melissa Mohr

Who should read Holy Sh*t?

Language lovers
Historians, anthropologists and students of cultural studies
People who want to broaden their swearing vocabulary

About the Author

Melissa Mohr is an American writer who holds a PhD from Stanford University in English Literature with a specialization in medieval and Renaissance literature.

Categories with Holy Sh*t

History Communication Skills

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