The Religious and the Excremental: Holy Sh*t

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:55 pm by Kathy Schiffer

The Religious and the Excremental: Holy Sh*t 2016-09-30T15:55:39-05:00 Kathy Schiffer

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Melissa Mohr seems to have hit the jackpot with her new book Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing. Right at the offset, she pulls in a generous five stars on Amazon for her exhaustive compendium of trash talk, in which she chronicles the history of vulgarity regarding human sexual organs and various human excreta.

I DON’T GET IT.

Operating on the theme of “So many books, so little time”, I can’t see spending another quarter-hour immersed in the analysis of obscenity in the Renaissance and the return to euphemism in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. I have no urge to know the full range of Roman cusswords. I am troubled by Mohr’s assertion—confirmed in my own experience on-line and in the checkout lane at Wal-Mart—that the twentieth century has seen the normalization of swearing, and then doubled down in a verbal challenge to human dignity and respect.

But why, I wondered—why am I reading all of this jibber-jabber about masculine organs when I’ve never read Desiderata or most of the Graham Greene novels?

Why, I ask further, would an otherwise cultured person debase himself to reveal his raw sexual urges when we’ve barely spoken until this moment?

One part of the book, though, caught my attention. According to an article about Mohr’s work in The Detroit News, most children learn how to swear before they even know the alphabet.

And just how does little Jimmy learn these attention-grabbing epithets before he can scream “L-M-N-O-P”? Well, Junior repeats what he hears; and according to the Daily Mail, English-speakers actually use a curse word about once every 140 words. That, the article notes, makes foul language as common as a first person plural pronoun. The frequency of swear words, coupled with adults’ elevated voices and shocked expressions, must confirm for young ears and eyes the importance of these maledictions. Cursing, Mohr explains, usually kicks off at the tender age of three or four.

It’s unrealistic to imagine a return to a moralistic society in which moviegoers are shocked and cover their children’s ears when Rhett Butler snarls at the pitiable Scarlet O’Hara, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn!” Disc jockeys no longer back-mask the lyrics to a song, and the ‘60s hit single “Louie Louie” is pablum when stacked alongside Metallica or much of contemporary music.

But isn’t it a parent’s responsibility to safeguard their children’s minds, at least for a few formative years at the beginning of life—imparting a sense of decorum, teaching and requiring good manners, and avoiding the common vulgarities which speckle the American vernacular?

* * * *

Another book which hit the scene in 2009 was L’hostie, une passion québécoise by Olivier Bauer, a professor in Université de Montréal’s faculty of theology and religions, a native of Switzerland who moved to Quebec in 2006. The National Post explains:

The book details the evolving role of the Host in Quebec, from the first celebration of a Catholic Mass in New France in 1535 through its emergence as the “king of swear words” in the 20th century. Among his resource material is a lengthy 1982 report on swearing for the Office québécois de la langue française, Quebec’s language watchdog. It found that ostie was the preferred swear word of young women (their elders preferred câlice) and all ages of men. The study also noted that 20 years after the beginning of the Quiet Revolution, 94% of teenagers still considered it a swear word. The future of ostie as a go-to curse seemed assured.

In Quebec, Professor Bauer found, it was not ignoble bodily functions that captured the popular imagination; rather, most of the common words in Quebec’s vocabulary of curses were religious words: esprit [spirit], sacrament and baptême [baptism] ostie [Host], calvaire [Calvary], criss [from Christ], câlice [chalice] and tabarnak [tabernacle]. Bauer notes that the impact of some of these words is gradually falling, but that the media help to keep them alive in common usage.

Interestingly, the real story—according to the National Post—is not that these words which refer to sacred objects are used in a base and derogatory sense, but that they may be losing their impact in a secularized society. If religious belief is no longer important in French-Canadian society, then these swear words based on faith have ceased to offend because, after all, Who cares?

Previous Post

April 14, 2013

Bending Gender: Breast-Feeding Dads, Chaplain Nuns

Next Post

April 15, 2013 Bar Codes in the Darnedest Places!

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category #Synod14 Abortion Abstinence Abuse Addiction Adoption Advent Adventure Advertising Aging Agnosticism All Saints Day All Souls Day Amish Anathema Angels Anglican Animals Annulment Annunciation Apocalypse Apologetics Apostles Apostleship of the Sea Apparitions Archangels Archbishop Cordileone Archbishop Dolan Archbishop Vigneron Archeology Architecture Art Art Buchwald Ash Wednesday Assisted Suicide Astronauts Atheism Athletes Babies Baptism Beatification Beauty Bible Biochemistry Bioethics Birds Bishop Lori Bishops Blasphemy Books Canon Law Canonization Capital Punishment Cardinal Burke Cardinal Dolan Cardinal George Caritas Catechesis Catechism of the Catholic Church Catholic Catholic Education Catholic Higher Education Catholic Social Teaching Celibacy Cemeteries Character Charity Chastity Cheapskate Christian Unity Christmas Churches Civil Rights Cloning Comedy Communion of Saints Community Kitchens Confession Confirmation Conscience Consequences Consistory Constitution Contraception Conversion Cooking Councils of the Church Creativity Criminal Justice Cristero War Crucifixion Crystal Cathedral Culture Death Death and Dying Death Penalty Department of Health and Human Services Diaconate Dictatorship of Relativism Dignity Disability Discrimination Dissidence Divorce Doctors of the Church Early Church Fathers Easter Economics Ecumenism Education Encyclicals Environmentalism Episcopal Church Eucharist Euthanasia Evangelism Evangelists Evangelization Evolution Excuses Facebook Faith Families Family Fashion Fasting Fatherhood Federal Government Feminism Fiction Film First Amendment First Communion For Greater Glory Forgiveness Free Speech Friends Friendship Gender Discrimination Germany Gnosticism Good Friday Government Grace Greed Gregorian Calendar Happiness Health Heaven Heresy History Holidays Holiness Hollywood Holy Land Holy Saturday Holy Spirit Holy Week Holy Year Home Sweet Home Homosexuality Hope Humanism Humility Humor Imagination Immaculate Conception Immigration Impulsivity In Vitro Fertilization Incarnation Indulgences Infallibility Internet Islam Italy Jerusalem Jesus Judaism Justice Kathleen Sebelius Labor Movement LCWR Lent Life Literature Liturgy Lourdes Love Magi Marketing Marriage Martyrdom Martyrs Mary Mass Media Medical Ethics Mexico Michigan Miracles Missionaries Modernism Modesty Monks Monothelitism Motherhood Movies Mushrooms Music Muslim Mystery Mysticism Mythology Nativity Natural Law Nature New Evangelization New Media New Year New Year's Resolutions Nostalgia Obscenity Occult Old Testament Origen Orthodox Orvieto Pallium Papacy Parenting Patience Patriarch Bartholomew Patriotism Peace Peace and Justice Penitence Pentecost People Persecution Philosophy Poetry Political activism Political Correctness Politics Polls Pop Culture Pope Benedict XVI Pope Francis Pope John Paul II Pope John XXIII Pope Paul VI Pope St. Pius X Pope Urban VII Population Prayer Preaching Prejudice Pride Priesthood Pro-Life Protestantism Psychology Purgatory Queenship of Mary Racism Rape Real Presence Reconciliation Reformation Relics Religious Religious Liberty Reliquary Renewal Reproductive Technology Resurrection Rights Romance Rome Royalty Sacraments Sacred Heart Saints Satanism Science Science Fiction Scripture Seal of Confession Secularism Seniors September 11 Seventy Times Seven Sexuality Sharks Sin Smoking Social Communications Social Justice Social Networking Social Sciences Space Exploration Spirituality Sports St. Luke St. Patrick's Day St. Paul St. Peter St. Teresa of Avila Stations of the Cross Steve Jobs Superstition Supreme Court Symbolism Synod Technology Teen Rebellion Television Terrorism Thankfulness Thanksgiving Theology Think This, Not That Tobit Toilets Toys Tradition Traditions Transplants Travel Trinity Twitter U.S. Air Force Uncategorized United Nations USCCB Valentine Vatican Vatican Archives Vatican Blogfest Virtue Vocations Where We Pray White Heart Women World Day of Social Communications World Meeting of Families World News World Youth Day Worship Writing Year of Consecrated Life Year of Faith Year of Mercy Youth

Select a Month December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How many days was Jesus in the tomb before His resurrection?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Nine Three Seven Forty