Feb 27, 2009
Foul Language and Civilization: The Relationship Between Four-Letter Words and Cultural Sophistication
Steven Pinker, author of The Stuff of Thought and The Language Instinct, is developing a theory about the relationship between violence, morality and profanity for a new book.
Pinker, who is an evolutionary psychologist, linguist, Harvard professor, and all-around bad-ass, puts forth the idea that societal changes over the past few centuries have led to a massive decrease in morally atrocious behavior. Furthermore, this “civilizing process” coincides with the rise of what we now recognize as verbal profanity.
Starting in the Late Middle Ages, people stopped blowing their noses onto the dining room table, urinating onto curtains, defecating in public, and giving their eight-year-olds advice about prostitution. Taboos on speaking about excretion and sexuality were part of this development.
It seems counterintuitive that elevation of social standards would create curse words, but it makes sense that designation of profane topics socially, would be reflected linguistically.
For all those who claim that the use of explicit language is contributing to moral decay, the fact that they are even able to identify what a curse word is might soon provide a bit of consolation.