This is not the sort of language I would normally use!
But I have to look at this today, because on Wednesday in the federal parliament Angus Taylor called Anthony Albanese ‘an arrogant prick.’
The first thing to note is that ‘prick’ has been used to mean the penis since 1555.
The word is much older than that—coming into Old English from a Germanic source and originally meaning an indentation or hole, and the word was then extended to the sharp implement that could cause an indentation.
And then it came to be used metaphorically—and from that to be used as a term of abuse.
That abusive use of ‘prick’ is recorded from 1598.
So, this is a profanity that Shakespeare knew!
This sense is defined in the Oxford as: ‘a stupid, contemptible, or annoying person.’
But although the Oxford records this from the end of the 16th century it adds a usage note saying that is ‘rare until the 20th century.’
It typically occurs about 0.8 times per million words in modern written English.
For a term of abuse that makes it reasonably common these days.
Have profanities and vulgarities become more common in our language in recent years?
The answer is yes—so, why is this so?
There is more than one reason.
For a start—profanity is aggressive, so if there is more profanity our society has become more aggressive.
These days university professors seem to want to sound like brickies’ labourers.
We know about the rising tide of aggression on campuses from the anti-Semitic abuse Jewish students and staff have been subjected to.
But there’s more.
Profanity is evidence of linguistic impoverishment.
The foulest vulgarities in fact are meaningless.
The f--- word is spat out aggressively with no inherent meaning.
So, when empty, angry vulgarities are being thrown around people have forgotten how to use the language creatively.
Their vocabularies have shrunk.
And, of course, the fading away of the Christian foundations of western civilisation has also played a part in the decline of civility and the rise of vulgarity.
All very sad.
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BY THE WAY...
If you'd like to see my A-Z list of Aussie slang, you'll find it here in the Australian Geographic website -- A-Z list of Aussie slang. Here’s the link: The A-Z of Aussie slang - Australian Geographic
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