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EchoVast t1_j6ik7ng wrote

People today underestimate how much profanity was in use in daily life back then, partly because of how the times are depicted/glorified.

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WantToBeACyborg t1_j6ilrnw wrote

Plus, there were words and phrases they used that were considered course but lost their original meaning/punch over time.

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basaltgranite t1_j6initm wrote

It's an ongoing process. For example, "fuck" once had an impact. Now it's a routine vocabulary word. It happens the other way around too. "Piss" was once the normal word for urination. When "piss" became crude, it was euphemized to "pee."

Edit: Another example: In medieval England, "cunt" was tame enough to officially name a street where prostitutes plied their trade "gropecunt lane." Most (not all) of them have been renamed.

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AnalogNightsFM t1_j6j10x4 wrote

First known reference in English apparently is in a compound, Oxford street name Gropecuntlane cited from c. 1230 (and attested through late 14c.) in "Place-Names of Oxfordshire" (Gelling & Stenton, 1953), presumably a haunt of prostitutes. Used in medical writing c. 1400, but avoided in public speech since 15c.; considered obscene since 17c.

https://www.etymonline.com/word/cunt

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PragmaticIdealism t1_j6kxsk0 wrote

I was of the understanding fuck was quite common in medieval England and became more of a swear over time? Something about birds being called windfuckers?

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Lotharofthepotatoppl t1_j6l8lms wrote

IIRC there was a fight on the floor of congress (used to be very common) that started when one guy called the other a rascal. Naughty, rascal, etc used to be fighting words but now they’re completely inoffensive lol

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An_Awesome_Name t1_j6jsozl wrote

That’s the case with basically anything these days too. I work in engineering and watching my company’s promotional and marketing department do their thing, you would think we are all upstanding professionals with a perfectly clean mouth.

That’s what gets recorded and remembered, not my co-worker and I going on about how another department fucked us.

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