Monday, August 29, 2005

You f***ing beauty

Wayne Rooney has hit the headlines again, but this time it's for shouting rude words rather than "courting" old ladies in latex suits.

After scoring a goal for his little-known north western team, he is alleged to have yelled "Get in there, you f***ing beauty", prompting an apology from a Sky Sports commentator. And Rooney's excuse? According to The Mirror, it's down to his youthful enthusiasm.

But shock horror! He's not the only one in the news for swearing. I know it's hard to believe, but some Australians have been swearing too. And a school in Northamptonshire has imposed a "five f***s a day rule" in an attempt to cut down swearing in its classes.

So what is it with all this f***ing swearing? One academic claims it's all part of language change - old swearwords lose their power, new swearwords and taboo terms become unacceptable. Others argue that swearing is losing its power to outrage.

Useful for:
ENA5 - Language Change and Language Varieties
ENA6 - Language Debates
EA4C - Language Investigations

Black British English vs MLE

The latest episode of Lexis is out and it features an interview with Ife Thompson about lots of issues connected to Black British English, i...