Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Every language has words that its speakers consider taboo-- unfit to be spoken, or at least not in "polite company." Which of these is NOT a reason why a word may be considered taboo?
2. The Oromo people of Ethiopia consider it taboo to speak the names of their relatives and in-laws. They even avoid saying "normal" words which sound similar to their relatives' names. Naturally, this causes a few problems, because these words are often common vocabulary items! Which of these strategies do they use for "linguistic taboo avoidance"?
3. Are some words so bad they could send you to Hell? Jesus said (Matthew 5:22) that if you call someone this really, really, really bad four-letter F-word, you "shall be in danger of hell fire."
4. Hell fire aside, bad words can bring a lot of publicity! George Bernard Shaw's famous 1910 play, "Pygmalion," was shocking in its use of vulgarity. What was the one word which generated so much controversy?
5. The origins of one commonly used English taboo word are difficult to trace. This is partly because the editors of the Oxford English Dictionary considered the word too scurrilous to include when they first compiled volume "F." One of the earliest references to it occurs in a 15th century poem, "Flen flyys." What is so unusual about this reference?
6. Mass media are notoriously averse to using taboo vocabulary. That said, in which English-language newspaper would you be likely to encounter "bad words" in print?
7. Typographical "bleeping," like replacing letters in a word with h-ph--s or ast*r*sks, has been around for a long, long time. When was the first recorded instance of this in English?
8. Of course, it is easy to OVERcorrect for taboo vocabulary. An overzealous censor bleeped out every instance of which word when editing "The Queen" for in-flight showings?
9. Using, or rather, mis-using, taboo vocabulary can come with serious political consequences. Just ask former Sen. George Allen (R-VA). His racist nickname for S. R. Sidarth, a democratic campaign worker who attended one of Allen's political rallies, probably caused Allen to lose the 2006 Senatorial race. This loss was what tipped the balance of power in the Senate to the Democrats.
10. One notorious racial slur (the one that starts with the letter between M and O), is sometimes considered "acceptable" if used by a member of that ethnic group, but "unacceptable" if someone outside that ethnic group says it. Enter "The Daily Show." Our white British friend Oliver needed to use this troublesome word, but he couldn't just come out and say it, could he? What did he do instead?
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