Strong Language

My interest in (1) tennis and, unrelatedly, (2) the linguistics of profanity means that just now when I saw the phrase "WTA RG F" my brain briefly decided that it meant "what the actual Roland-Garros fuck"

The term "circlejerk" has picked up an interesting new figurative meaning in the names of subreddits, meaning something similar to "shitposting".

So for example r/vexillologycirclejerk, is full of dumb memes and jokes about flags.

Coming to grips with circle jerks Today we’re going to answer the question “What the fuck is a circle jerk?” so you don’t end up like Melissa Rauch’s parents. To begin with, what’s the difference between a circle jerk and a cluster…

FTA: A real circle-jerk from @sesquiotic.bsky.social stronglang.wordpress.com/2016/01/07/c...

Why spend your morning getting anything productive done when you too could be going through the Official Ofcom Guide to Bad Words?

(Warning, of course, for bad language.) @stronglang.bsky.social www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/r...

Melissa Mohr's "Holy Sh*t" and Geoffrey Hughes's "Encyclopedia of Swearing" are great. Hughes's "Swearing: A Social History…" has rich detail but not modern. Rob Chirico's "Damn!" covers the US, and Ben Bergen's "What the F" addresses recent shifts from a cog-sci pov

While we're here, do you know of any well researched books on the history of profane/uncouth language? I'm especially interested in the recent (last 50 years) changes that have happened in taboo language.

can bluesky please stop hiding replies just because they have bad words in them? i'm a grownup, i can read the word "fuck"

See also www.theallusionist.org/lexicat1 by @allusionistshow.bsky.social

The Fuckoffee cafe on Bethnal Green Road, London. A great place to stop ‘for coffee’ if you’re an edgy hipster.

Every time I walk past this cafe on Bethnal Green Road I think it embodies all the ways modern London annoys me

I know we will know someone who knows.

@stronglang.bsky.social Can it be true?

Ad on the side of a multi-story San Francisco building: It's time to give a shift. (Advertiser: Chainguard)

Alternatively, you can give a shift.

@stronglang.bsky.social

My 7 year old just reached for a piece of pizza fresh out of the oven and exclaimed, in the same tone as an adult swearing…

“English folklore, that’s hot!”

I choked laughing ENGLISH FOLKLORE AS A SWEAR? WHO ARE YOU?!?

I've been referred to in print as a "cunt" by people I'd praised. The first time was by John Huston. We'd been friends and I'd defended him for years. But I wrote that NIGHT OF THE IGUANA was a lousy movie. So he called me a "cunt" to an interviewer. (1989)

“Don’t give a f#@&” Note: This post was originally published in a slightly different form on Fritinancy, my Substack newsletter. * “DON’T GIVE A F#@&” shouts the headline on a two-page ad in a recent Sunday New Yo…

"Is it even possible, linguistically, to 'give an e.l.f.'? Or a fuck?" @fritinancy.bsky.social reports on a new, swear-adjacent marketing campaign:
stronglang.wordpress.com/2025/11/21/d...

Fucking ambiguity In a post last month on the versatility of fuck, Rob Chirico wrote that the word has ‘escaped and run from the confines of its sexual root’. That is, most current uses of fuck are independent of se…

Added a new example of fucking ambiguity to my @stronglang.bsky.social post
stronglang.wordpress.com/2015/05/13/f...

Reposting with alt text

More of a blustercleep

'A clusterbleep' - Barry Cowen gives his take on Fianna Fáil handling of Jim Gavin controversy Cowen, who was elected an MEP last year, says it’s up to the authors of the internal review to decide where the blame lies.

"Clusterbleep". Not its first use, but a notable one from an Irish politician
www.thejournal.ie/barry-cowen-...

My advice to would-be prescriptivists:

• Choose your battles.
• Don’t pick all the most classist “well, if you spoke Greek, you’d know this” battles.
• Know what you’re talking about before you talk about it.

Never mind the bollocking, here’s the slang data An unlikely swearword hit the headlines twice in recent days, thanks to its use on mainstream television from two prominent figures. In the first clip below, celebrity journalist Piers Morgan uses …

FTA: @stancarey.bsky.social minds the bollocks stronglang.wordpress.com/2016/01/06/n...

*Abso-hallelujah-lutely: Infixes can’t be interjections (but what are they?) Two weeks ago, I wrote a post about why you can’t say *abso-jesus-lutely, pointing out that you can only infix certain kinds of swears. In response, Ed Cormany asked on Twitter whether I thou…

FTA: @gretchenmcc.bsky.social on unfixable outbursts stronglang.wordpress.com/2015/12/27/a...

A clusterfuck of fuckery I wrote a book about words for bullshit this year, but I missed some words. I think my most egregious omission was fuckery. That’s a damn popular word for unadulterated bullshit.

FTA: @markpetersjokes.bsky.social on what kind of bullshit this fuckery is stronglang.wordpress.com/2015/12/14/a...

Swearing Dudley parking wardens criticised by MP Cat Eccles Cat Eccles says she has personally witnessed poor behaviour by parking enforcement contractors.

It's all kicking off in Stourbridge
www.bbc.com/news/article...

As someone who grew up with "Zounds!" and other bizarre minced oaths, I can't tell you how pleasing it was to see "Odds bods!" (a euphemism for "God's body") in a comic book yesterday

Genuinely delighted to download a PhD thesis from a university repository where the author has neglected to remove the words "BITCH THIS IS YOUR THESIS" from the filename.

dyke — Wordorigins.org 27 October 2025 A dyke is a lesbian or a woman whose appearance is regarded as masculine, with the implication that she is a lesbian. The word was originally a slur and is still offensive in many c...

dyke

#etymology #wordorigins #language

For instance:
1963 K. Waterhouse Jubb (1966) 138: Bloody sodding hellfire Jesus Christ All-hopping Mighty!

GDoS has examples for these (less fuck + variants): bally, bastard, bitch, blanky, blasted, bleeding, blessed, bloody, blooming, bully, by-god, damn, flaming, freaking, fricking, frigging, god-damn, hell-fired, hopping, like, motherfucker, motherfucking, raasclat, rotten, ruddy, shagging.