I am Hunter (Chukchi)

[nic a char]

This may be of interest: https://moniyawlinguist.wordpress.com/2011/01/11/swearing-in-plains-cree/

It certainly is - good link! Here's who wrote it: "This blog is run by a ‘white’ (môniyâw) person, but it’s generally about the Plains Cree language. Well, actually it was generally about Plains Cree back when I had faith that there was a place in the Cree world for people like me. I now don’t really think so, because of the rabid racializing that now goes on in what passes for “Cree” scholarship and “Cree” academics and such – an issue I touch on in this blog. Hence I am “formerly known as môniyâw.” I don’t have a Cree connection anymore.
I have a PhD in formal linguistics, a long record of research and fieldwork in aboriginal communities (as well as Africa, the Middle East, SE Asia), and I did my dissertation work on Plains Cree and some of its related languages (Blackfoot, Ojibwe). At one time, I was able to speak Plains Cree relatively well, but I find these days that I cannot get the words out. Too many bad experiences.
So these days, I work on other projects. Writing, philosophy, abstract modelling, drawing pictures of small animals that have emotional problems – you know, the normal everyday stuff"

 

[santaman2000]

Interesting. Dark and Cold, harsh living conditions; no swearing?
In Norway it is actually the Northern Norwegians that swear the most. Up here it is almost an artform.

Are they as close knit? Small tribal villages dependent on each other without outside help?

 

[Swallow]

So is swearing. It used to mean using words that were blasphemous. It is often considered to be offensive because it is slanderous, but the reality remains; everyone gets irritated. Even apes and monkeys get irritated, angry and annoyed, and are both vociferous and physically demonstrative of it.
That's all swearing is.

M

In pure form yes, but there's a difference between that and directing it, which would require blame.

There's a big difference between the pure from of "Aaaaaargh!" which doesn't even have an intellectual meaning and "&*(^ off" or "$%£ you" or "you're a "£$%" or "damn that thing".

Cursing (when we get Anglo rather than American) shows it roots. It's a sending of ill intent.

 

[santaman2000]

......Cursing (when we get Anglo rather than American) shows it roots. It's a sending of ill intent.

Anglo vs American? I thinking your definition of cursing is likely older that either of our cultures. The very word (admittedly an English word) "cursing" implies (or is it infers?) "to put a curse on."

 

[Swallow]

Anglo vs American? I thinking your definition of cursing is likely older that either of our cultures. The very word (admittedly an English word) "cursing" implies (or is it infers?) "to put a curse on."

Which is entirely my point. The concept of there being cultures on the planet who do not take their irritation to the point of sending ill intent does not seem outlandish to me.

Here I have assumed swearing and cursing to be the same which may not be correct but they seem to have a lot of overlap.

swear verb (swore , sworn , swearing) 1 intrans to use indecent or blasphemous language. 2 to assert something solemnly or earnestly, sometimes with an oath. 3 to promise solemnly, usually by taking an oath. 4 to take (an oath). noun an act of swearing • He went outside to have a good swear. swearer noun. swearing noun. swear blind colloq to assert emphatically.
ETYMOLOGY: Anglo-Saxon swerian.

curse noun 1 a blasphemous or obscene expression, usually of anger; an oath. 2 an appeal to God or some other divine power to harm someone. 3 the resulting harm suffered by someone • under a curse. 4 an evil; a cause of harm or trouble • Pollution is a curse of modern life. 5 colloq (the curse) menstruation; a woman's menstrual period. verb (cursed, cursing) 1 to utter a curse against; to revile with curses. 2 intrans to use violent language; to swear.
ETYMOLOGY: Anglo-Saxon curs.


"Cussing" I have not come accross outside the US and learned about it in a bar in Manhattan when I read the sign on the wall and asked "What the $%&* is cussing?".

 

[santaman2000]

......"Cussing" I have not come accross outside the US and learned about it in a bar in Manhattan when I read the sign on the wall and asked "What the $%&* is cussing?".

:You_Rock_

 

[santaman2000]

Which is entirely my point. The concept of there being cultures on the planet who do not take their irritation to the point of sending ill intent does not seem outlandish to me.....QUOTE]

Nor to me.