Innovation

Swearing by its nature involves traditional forms of expression, reliant on established terms, modes, and idioms, many of them quite bizarre departures from “normal” or “natural” language. As the entry for impact makes clear, original insults such as son of a cow or tax dodger obviously lack the impact of the more traditional son of a bitch or crook . Historically only a few literary authors, such as Geoffrey Chaucer, François Rabelais, William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, and the Earl of Rochester have managed to add to the stock of swearwords, foul language, and insults.

British English historically has formed the major tradition, as is to be expected, but in recent decades American English has manifestly become the major source of innovation. As the entries for bitch, crap, hell, lousy, and punk make clear, these terms have had long histories in British English, but most of the modern semantic extensions derive from American usage, many of them of surprising duration. Thus, scum has developed a thriving currency in the form of the comparatively new American compound scumbag (originally meaning a used contraceptive sheath, from ca. 1976). Another indicator is the shift from the use of British arse as a term of insult, first to American arsehole and then to asshole from ca. 1933. The Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang (1994) has over a dozen pages covering the main terms and compounds in American slang, from plain ass to ass-wiper . Although fuck used as a verb is found as far back as the early sixteenth century in British usage, its use as a noun, as in “You lying fuck!,” is still exclusively American and recorded from ca. 1927. Geek is possibly related to Elizabethan English geck , “a fool,” but its modern currency, from ca. 1908, is American. Jerk , from ca. 1919, is exclusively American; so is the egregious motherfucker from ca. 1935. Also American in origin are fuck-all from ca. 1918, fuck around from ca. 1931, and fuck over from ca. 1961. Other original or predominantly American contributions are bullshit from ca. 1886, cocksucker from ca. 1891 but common from World War I, beaver from ca. 1927, chickenshit from ca. 1929, and dickhead from ca. 1962. Joint in the sense of “penis” dates from ca. 1931, and as a marijuana cigarette from ca. 1942. Terms for prostitutes include hooker from ca. 1845, broad from ca. 1914; call-girl and hustler , both from ca. 1924; and tramp from the same era.Terms for homosexuals originating in American usage are fairy, faggot , and dyke . The American Journal of Psychology noted in 1895 that “‘The Fairies’ of New York are said to be a similar secret organisation” (vii, 216); in 1914 Jackson and Hellyer’s Vocabulary of Criminal Slang explained: “All the faggots (sissies) will be in drag at the ball tonight” (30), while Tamony’s Americanisms (1931) carries a reference to “pansies and dykes” (8). A fair number of these American innovations have been borrowed into British English and other global varieties.