REVIEW: A History of Swear Words, Series 1 Episode Three 'B***h'

 REVIEW: A History of Swear Words, Series 1 Episode Three 'B***h'

I am always a big fan when you get a geeky reference to an item of popular culture, and so I had a big grin on my face during the opener to this episode, where Nicolas Cage uses the phrase 'With great power comes great responsibility'. Of course, anyone who knows anything about geekdom will know that that is a reference to Uncle Ben's iconic words of wisdom to Peter Parker/Spider-Man, and the mantra that Peter lives his superheroism by, so to hear Nicolas Cage say it, who previously played Ghost Rider in Marvel films, was a lot of fun.

Outside of the fun geeky references, this was a really interesting episode. I didn't know that the 'B' word for women originated from 1000AD, and the word 'Bicce', which meant a female dog. Nor did I know that in 1400AD the term 'b***h goddess' was used to mean a chained or uncontrollable woman.

It was also fascinating learning about how it is one of those swear words that is both derogatory and a term of endearment at the same time, depending upon the context as to when it is said, and by what group of people. It's certainly intriguing how it has become a word that is okay for women and gay members of society to use, but not okay for us straight men to utilise when talking about women. It's almost like there has to be a sense of femininity in order for it to be okay for a person to use it.

I do agree with the argument made here that the hip hop music genre shouldn't be allowed to use it when everybody else who isn't either female or homosexual cannot without it being deemed offensive. It's a classic case of 'one rule for one, and another rule for someone else', and I'm not sure they should be an exception to the rule.

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