Posted by IsoM on May 24, 2002, at 0:00:24
In reply to personal to kid_a... » kid_A, posted by krazy kat on May 23, 2002, at 19:23:38
Strange how perfectly innocuous words can take on vulgar connotations depending on who uses them. Certain words start out innocent enough but become taboo depending on their origins.
As Beire-dei no doubt knows, many Old Germanic words were considered more coarse & vulgar when the Normans conquered England. Norman French became the artistocrastic language & the shorter blunter Germanic languages became that of the "lower" class. The word 'shit' came from a perfectly acceptable Old Norse (or other Germanic word) for excrement. Even though the word 'nigger' came from Spanish & before that Latin, meaning black, even back then its connotation wasn't meant just to describe skin colour but was meant to denote someone beneath the 'pure' white's consideration.
poster:IsoM
thread:5148
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20020510/msgs/5227.html