I would love a show specifically discussing insults and profanity through the ages. One of my favourite cuss words from the past is zooterkins, not sure if that's the right spelling.
Not a swear word but another way of referring to something that is garbage that is still used here in the UK is codswallop which is just too silly not to use.
Looking forward to a full hour of WWW! Yeah, life is going to be better soon.
Thanks! I've been wanting to do a really "blue" episode for a while, but I don't think we could get that on the air. 🙂 But there are plenty of broadcasting-safe pejoratives we could talk about, I think.
I believe you could. Growing up in Kansas, I'd hear "What a Possum Stink That Is!" or "Ain't That The Cat's Meow!" That's swearing with clean words.
California has some local "swearing" with Spanish thrown in.
You guys can do it; you have a "Way With Words!".
See you on the radio this weekend.
You all would probably like Samuel Johnson's Insults, edited by Rutgers professor Jack Lynch (who, incidentally, has a great grammar guide online).
Lynch edited Johnson's Dictionary as well, and we had delightful time with him on the show a couple of years ago. His book about insults was an outgrowth of editing the dictionary, because Johnson included so many of them. I was pleased to learn, for example, that a "clodpate" is "A stupid fellow; a dolt; a thickskull," and that a "fustilarian," as defined by Johnson, is "A low fellow; a stinkard; a scoundrel."
Oh -- one more insult from Johnson's dictionary:
grammaticaster: "A mean verbal pedant; a low grammarian."
Nothing but high grammarians around here, I assure you.