In theis post I’m going to compare ban modern day cussing to Shakespearen cusses Below I have attched a scene from the taming of the shrew.
Come, Kate, and wash, and welcome heartily.
A whoreson beetle-headed, flap-ear’d knave!
Come, Kate, sit down; I know you have a stomach.
Will you give thanks, sweet Kate; or else shall I?
What’s this? mutton?As you can read from above petruchio identifies the servants as big headed idiot and this translated of course but as a person with a big head this is a modern day cuss that I can identify as modern this also a cuss been used for hundreds of years but changing the translation
October 14, 2012 at 1:24 pm
The other aspect of the insults that have come forward is the way they sound. You wouldn’t have to understand what people are saying at all (either now, or in Shakespeare’s play) to know they’re intended as insults.