I've always regarded piss as more acceptable than fart or snot, but then in Australian usage 'piss' is frequently used to refer to beer. If you have ever tasted average Australian beer, you might agree it's not an unreasonable use of the word.

And Pinker has at least one thing wrong there - there is nothing casual about tennis.

Posted by: Sandgroper | October 9, 2007 1:48 AM

"or excretory organs or activities"?

Are congressional bluenoses ignorant of the fact that tear ducts and sweat glands are excretory organs? (So are the cells producing ear wax and the glands that produce snot.) These people don't know enough basic physiology to qualify them to write laws about bodily functions.

Am I alone in knowing that NBC's logo is a stylized peacock? Not a pea hen, a cock, a 7-colored cock. Why no fines for aggravated indecency?

As to the distinction between 'shit' and 'feces', once you've shoveled your first ton of horseshit you'll know 'feces' to be a candy-assed word. A bit of education and you'll learn that 'feces' means 'dregs', so if you want to dump the coffee grounds in your garden you should be wary of laws against 'defecating in public', for fear that the law might be taken literally rather than figuratively. When did it become a good idea to write laws to be taken any other way than literally?

The actual Latin word for shit is 'merda'. To shit is 'cacare'. Manure is 'sterca'.

By the way, while it is true that "sex has high stakes", the stakes are far higher for food and water, yet what part of eating or drinking is highly charged? I think the whole issue is cultural. American blacks started the 'motherfucker' to mean a white man who fucks their mothers, but this doesn't always translate into other languages. In some it becomes 'you fuck your mother'. There are no universals here across cultures, which means it is all cultural and nothing else.

To these congressional bluenose holes with great steaming piles for brains, I say, "Forget you and the horse your rode in on, you motherjumpers. Go forget your fist, you roottooting puppies." And there's not a damn thing they can do about it.

Posted by: WTFWJD | October 9, 2007 9:36 AM

In Paul Fussell's book "Wartime:---", he devotes an entire
chapter to chickenshit in the Army, and another to swearing.

He relates the story of the British Air Corps mechanic
who throws the busted engine piece on the ground and
yells "Awww...... the fucking fucker's fucked!"

and notes.....'we all knew exactly what he meant'.

thanks for the link to Pinker.... it's a classic.

Posted by: robopox | October 11, 2007 8:54 AM