REVIEW: A History Of Swear Words, Series 1 Episode Six 'Damn'

 REVIEW: A History Of Swear Words, Series 1 Episode Six 'Damn'

In the pantheon of swear words, 'damn' is a word you don't tend to associate with profanity any more. Most use the word without the meaning or intention to offend, and as a result it has become somewhat normalised in everyday conversation. Indeed, this is something that this episode of A History of Swear Words addresses too, with both Nicolas Cage and the celebrity guests commenting on how mild it has become.

It makes the battle Gone With The Wind faced to even be able to use the word in the film seem all the more bizarre as a result. So controversial was this word in the late 1930s that director David O. Selznick had to get special permission from The Hays Code, which banned swear words including 'damn' from useage in cinematic features, in order to use it. It signifies how much times have changed, and Nicolas Cage's comedic routine regarding damn-less substitutes for that famous speech from Gone With The Wind are not only hilarious to witness, but make you grateful that the director got his way.

Of course, it's no surprise that so many of our words come from Latin, and here it is revealed that the word 'damn' came from the latin phrase 'damnare', which meant to be judged as guilty of something. And God, is it odd to imagine people saying 'damnare' instead of the more simplistic 'damn'. I can't even fathom how that would even fit in a sentence without sounding cumbersome.

It's weird to think that it took until the Sixteenth Century for it to become the swear word 'damn'. You would have thought it would have happened a tad sooner, but apparently not. First, we are told, there was the phrase 'By God's bones', which was said to be blasphemous because it was the equivalent of declaring an intention to strip 'God' of his bones. And this forms an interesting basis for this episode, the idea that cussing is considered worse in a religious context than anywhere else.

An example given is from Barak Obama's time of presidency, which saw a pastor say 'God damn America' inside a church. This, apparently, caused a great deal of controversy, because of how it was spoken in a religious environment and using 'God's name' in vain. Given how in any other environment damn has been pretty much been accepted, it's strange how the more religious among us still won't entertain its useage. To everyone else, 'damn' is not really seen as a big deal anymore.

One thing I found quite amusing was learning the direct translations for the most popular swear words in other countries. Russia's seemed particularly bizarre; their most used swear word, in English, is directly translated as 'pee hold dandruff', which makes very little sense. Germany doesn't fare much better. The translated term here comes out as 'poo violin'. That does not sound like an instrument you would want to play.

Then there's also the thought shared by one of the celebrity talking heads, the idea that in a few decades' time, it could be perfectly normal for a four year old to say the 'F' word. That, to me, just seems wrong. It's quite a taboo thing to think about right now, but then when you think about the long journey damn has gone on, a part of you has to wonder if they could be proven right. In another twenty or thirty years, the whole landscape of swearing could have changed completely.

Overall, this was a decent episode of A History Of Swear Words. It raised some interesting ideas, and provided some fascinating facts about the historical relevance of 'damn'. It may not be quite as engaging as some of the earlier episodes of this series, but I came away feeling as though I had learnt something, and you can't argue with that.

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