TIL "Bloody" is a religious reference. Guess I need to go look up that etymology.
Well....That was interesting. It seems the "profane" nature of "Bloody" is very much in dispute, with claims that it derived from shortening "by Our Lady" being heavily disputed. There are multiple other possibilities for how the word began being used an intensifier, but NONE of them have to do with religion.
So, it seems that "bloody" is really of questionable vulgarity, and not really profane.
While in common parlance they are often interchangeable, connoisseurs of swearing will actually recognize 3 branches of taboo language.
the first is profanity which comes from the root work profane (as in opposite of holy) and has a religious subject matter (e.g damn, gods wounds -shortened to zounds, hell, Jesus, Jesus h. Christ, Jesus fucking Christ, Jesus Mary and Joseph),
Second is obscenity which comes from Obscene and refers to its sexual nature (eg fuck, motherfucker, cock, cocksucker, cunt, prick, jizz, twat, tits)
Finally there is vulgarity whose latin root means "common" refering to peasants as opposed to the genteel/polite society. This includes (shit, piss, bitch, cur, ass, jackass, asshole, crap) While this is similar to obscenity it is more about dirtyness or toilet humor rather than sex specifically.
Derpicide on June 23rd, 2023 at 17:56 UTC »
Shouldn't /r/Damnthatsinteresting be marked a NSFW sub then?
trustworthysauce on June 23rd, 2023 at 19:04 UTC »
TIL "Bloody" is a religious reference. Guess I need to go look up that etymology.
Well....That was interesting. It seems the "profane" nature of "Bloody" is very much in dispute, with claims that it derived from shortening "by Our Lady" being heavily disputed. There are multiple other possibilities for how the word began being used an intensifier, but NONE of them have to do with religion.
So, it seems that "bloody" is really of questionable vulgarity, and not really profane.
etaoin314 on June 23rd, 2023 at 19:34 UTC »
While in common parlance they are often interchangeable, connoisseurs of swearing will actually recognize 3 branches of taboo language.
the first is profanity which comes from the root work profane (as in opposite of holy) and has a religious subject matter (e.g damn, gods wounds -shortened to zounds, hell, Jesus, Jesus h. Christ, Jesus fucking Christ, Jesus Mary and Joseph),
Second is obscenity which comes from Obscene and refers to its sexual nature (eg fuck, motherfucker, cock, cocksucker, cunt, prick, jizz, twat, tits)
Finally there is vulgarity whose latin root means "common" refering to peasants as opposed to the genteel/polite society. This includes (shit, piss, bitch, cur, ass, jackass, asshole, crap) While this is similar to obscenity it is more about dirtyness or toilet humor rather than sex specifically.