What do these religious sensibilities have to do with language? Visual art and writing break taboos in a similar way. All of the Abrahamic religions feature what Steven Pinker, a cognitive scientist, has called “word magic”: the idea that by saying something one can do something profound and terrible. Judaism’s God used one of just ten commandments to prohibit taking his name in vain. The penalty is death: Take the blasphemer outside the camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the entire assembly is to stone him. Say to the Israelites: If anyone curses his God, he will be held responsible; anyone who blasphemes the name of the LORD must be put to death. The entire assembly must stone him.’ Strictly observant Jews do not utter aloud the name of Yaweh, the Jewish deity, nor even the English word “God”. They instead use “G-d” “Hashem” or “Adonai”, depending on context. English translations of the Jewish bible (the Old Testament, to Christians) replace Yahweh with “The LORD”, carrying the taboo into what is now the world’s biggest religion. One huge trove of avoidance-words (Gosh, golly, goodness) avoids “God”, and another (jeez, jeepers, jiminy cricket) spares Christianity’s founder the offence of hearing his name profaned. Some think that such taboos cannot survive advancing secularisation in the West. But if Mr Pinker is right, then secularisation has far to go in some Western countries. Ireland and Poland still have blasphemy laws on the book. And while the words “damn” and “dammit” are common on American network television, “god damn” and “goddammit” are still usually bleeped out, even as other swear words have become more common.
Posted on: Wed, 07 Jan 2015 18:23:27 +0000
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