Friday, February 9, 2018

Quote Of The Day


Last Absolution of the Munsters, by Fortunino Matania

In 1930, John Brophy and Eric Partridge published a collection of British songs and slang from the war.  They claimed that soldiers used the word 'fucking' so often that it was merely a warning 'that a noun is coming.' In a normal situation, swear words are used for emphasis, but Brophy and Partridge found that obscenity was so over-used among the military in the Great War that if a soldier wanted to express emotion he wouldn't swear.  'Thus, if a sergeant said, "Get your --ing rifles!" it was understood as a matter of routine.  But if he said "Get your rifles!" there was an immediate implication of urgency and danger.' ~ Bee Wilson

2 comments:

Lady Anne said...

Reminds me of the Boy Who Cried Wolf. Beautiful picture, BTW. I looked it up to find out more about it - wars are such useless things.

Bunnykins said...

I looked it up. 800 went out; 200 came back. Catholic priest serving as chaplin, mainly Irish soldiers. Ghastly war with unimaginative (to be kind) commanders.