REVIEW: A History Of Swear Words, Series 1 Episode Two 'S**t'

 REVIEW: A History Of Swear Words, Series 1 Episode Two 'S**t'

This swear word is one that I tend to use a lot, so this was quite an interesting episode for me. It's not all that weird that a word that means a number two is such a profane word, given its negative connotations, but it's still interesting to learn where it came from.

I found it quite fascinating, for instance, that the word came from an abbreviation from the 1800s, which stood for 'Ship High In Transit'. And learning of how swearing gives you a higher pain threshold was a very intriguing fact. They even prove it with an experiment reminiscent of the sort you would have in science lessons at school, where they split the talking heads into groups with one half swearing and the other avoiding cuss words, to see who would last the longest with their hand in a freezing cold bucket of water. Sure enough, those who swore lasted longer than those who didn't.

Whilst I didn't agree with the view presented on censorship being problematic (I believe it has a place in societies worldwide to stop kids from seeing material that is unsuitable for their age), it was still great to hear an opposing opinion from mine, and to see it from the point of view of those who don't believe things should be censored.

Of course, as this is a comedy documentary series, there were some very funny moments in this episode too. My favourites were the talk on how having a number of two used to be a communal thing during medieval times, and Nicolas Cage's closing speech at the end that rounded off the episode.

This was twenty minutes of pure entertainment, I just wish it was longer.

What are your thoughts on A History of Swear Words' second episode? Let me know in the comments.