Forbidden American: Essential Dictionary of Taboo American English

244 Pages·2016·49.62 MB·English

by  Richard A. Spears

FORBIDDEN
AMERICAN ~
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ESSENTIAL DICTIONARY
OF TABOO
AMERICAN ENGLISH
The Authoritative Guide
to the Most Offimsive Words
in American English

ESSENTIAL DICTIONARY
OF TABOO
AMERICAN ENGLISH
The Authoritative Guide
to the Most Offonsive Words
in American English
s1 17359643
FORBIDDEN
AI'ERICAN
ESSENTIAL D I CT . I.,
OF TABOO -
SPEARS
ZAN I CHELL I
NTC
c.
CONTENTS
To the User III
How to Use This Dictionary VIII
Pronunciation Guide X
Terms XII
Dictionary
Notes 204
Titolo originate: Forbidden American English
© 1991 Zanichelli editore S.p.A., Bologna
© 1990 National Textbook Company-Linconlnwood (Illinois)-U.S.A
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic.
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior
permission of the publishers.
I diritti di traduzione, di memorizzazione elettronica, di riproduzione
e di adattamento to tale o parziale, con qualsiasi mezzo ( compresi
i microfilm e le co pie fotostatiche ), so no riservati per tutti i Paesi.
Copertina: Anna Zamboni
Prima edizione italiana: giugno 1991
Ristampe:
7 6 5 4 1998 1999 2000
Stampato dalla Grafica Ragno
Via Piemonte 26, Tolara di Sotto, Ozzano (80)
per conto della Zanichelli editore S.p.A.
Via Irnerio 34, 40126 Bologna
TO THE USER
Why a Dictionary of This Type?
Within the last thirty years, the restrictions on the kinds of vo
cabulary, visual imagery, and subject matter that can be pre
sented to the public have been reduced considerably. Films,
television (especially cable television), the stage, print media,
and even radio no longer avoid offending the most hypercriti
cal segments of society. At the same time there are still major
areas of American society where there are significant restric
tions on the vocabulary that can be used in everyday social in
teractions. This dictionary has been prepared for persons who
seek guidance in avoiding giving offense with potentially of
fensive vocabulary. Included among such persons are nonna
tive speakers within the U.S. and the foreign consumers of
exported U.S. entertainment, especially films and television.
The Point of View Expressed in This Dictionary
American society has always been pluralistic. For that reason,
it is not now, nor has it ever been, possible to make general
and accurate statements about American tastes, values, and
behavior. Forbidden American English, as the title indicates,
presents a specialized vocabulary from the point of view of
persons whose tastes and values cause them to avoid or re
nounce the use of these expressions. There are, of course,
other points of view. One view might be that none of the ex
pressions in this dictionary ought to be forbidden. Another
view might consider the sexual expressions to be harmless and
the racial epithets to be unspeakably vile. This dictionary does
III
not seek to vindicate or eradicate any particular point of view.
It is formulated in such a way as to provide guidance to per
sons, especially nonnative speakers, who are not familiar with
the meanings of these expressions, and who wish to avoid the
social consequences of offending people with this kind of vo
cabulary.
This dictionary does not argue for or against the use of forbid
den vocabulary. It is a frank and straightforward resource for
those who wish to learn about a very specialized kind of vo
cabulary. As pointed out frequently in the comments in the
various entries, many of these expressions will hurt people
deeply, provoke violence, or reflect negatively on the people
who use them.
The Examples
The examples used in the dictionary are as realistic as it is pos
sible to make them. Although it is intended that the examples
demonstrate the offensiveness of some of the expressions,
there is no intention of offending anyone in the process. Read
ers will note that two qualities, hostility and humor, are evi
dent throughout the examples. From the point of view of the
typical users of this vocabulary, the tone and style of the ex
amples would be recognized as natural in the settings pre
sented in the examples.
The Notes and Comments
The usage patterns of the various expressions are indicated by
comments within each entry and, in some cases, by reference
to a set of notes at the end of the book. Occasionally, exam
ples appropriate to an entire class of words or meanings are
presented only in the notes rather than at the individual en
tries. The notes apply to all the expressions having a particular
IV
meaning, whether the expressions are in this dictionary or
not.
A thorough analysis of the use of this kind of vocabulary
would have to account for many variables, such as point of
view, setting, age of the speaker, sex of the speaker, age of the
audience, sex of the audience, tone of voice, intent of the
speaker, the audience's perception of the speaker's intent, etc.
Most of these variables lie in the realm of the speech act itself
and are not usually considered to be inherent to the expres
sions involved. It is, of course, possible to analyze and catego
rize taboo language, but it is not possible to make people use
these expressions according to the analysis. In actual use,
much of the effect of this vocabulary is dependent on perfor
mance variables, especially tone of voice.
The general and essential characteristics of this kind of lan
guage include (1) the exercise of total freedom, (2) spontane
ous customizing, (3) shock, (4) transgression against social
custom, and (5) innovation. It is hard to capture the patterns
of usage for a kind of language that delights in breaking the
rules. A dictionary of this type shows the potential uses of ex
pressions as realized possibilities-not limits-on use. The
notes and comments found here are designed only to provide
the information needed to explain the notion of "forbidden"
or "taboo" vocabulary. The aim is to enhance understanding
rather than to promote use.
Who Uses This Vocabulary?
It should not be assumed that all Americans know and use all
these expressions. In fact, there is virtually no one in the entire
world who knows and uses every single expression listed in this
dictionary. In the last three decades the communications me
dia have brought these expressions into our living rooms and
movie theaters. The "Free Speech" movement of the 1960s ex
panded both the users of, and audiences for, previously for-
v
bidden subjects and the forbidden vocabulary associated with
them. Hardly anyone can escape from at least hearing some of
these expressions.
The sexual patterns of the use of forbidden vocabulary have
also been in flux. The free and constant use of "foul lan
guage" on the part of men in groups, such as in the military or
in all-male work places, has long been regarded as typicaL The
use of such language in the presence of women (and children)
was, and still is for a broad segment of the population, a
strong social taboo. The historical pattern of the male use of
forbidden expressions, and the female opposition to the use of
forbidden expressions, has come under strong challenge in the
last three decades. Most strikingly, the proponents of the
"women's liberation" movements of the 1960s and '70s and,
later, the feminists have adopted and adapted the typical male
patterns of forbidden language use for their own purposes. It
is still too early to predict how these conflicting sexual pat
terns of forbidden language use will be resolved, if, indeed,
they ever will.
Young people also remain the creators and prime users of for
bidden vocabulary. As many teachers, parents, and grandpar
ents have learned, the use of forbidden vocabulary among the
young is amazingly widespread.
The notes and comments in this dictionary attempt to show
what the typical use patterns are for each entry. The state
ments about typical users really describe the kinds of people
for whom the vocabulary items seem most appropriate-given
the point of view of this dictionary. There is no notion that the
phrase typical of male-to-male talk means that only males use
the expression in question; it simply means that the expression
is perceived as more typical of male-to-male use than any
other use. The comments about typicality refer to perceived
typical patterns; they are not limitations. One would expect
that many of the expressions marked as typical of male-to
male talk are already in frequent use by females.
VI
How Much Forbidden Vocabulary Exists?
At any time, there are thousands of expressions that some
people-or even most people-would find offensive to some
degree. New uses for expressions of this type can be made at
will, and most such expressions have variations in form and
meaning. This dictionary contains a sampling consisting ei
ther of high-frequency, widespread expressions or expressions
that have worked their way into our consciousness by way of
the communications media.
VII
HOW TO USE THIS
DICTIONARY
1. Expressions are entered in an alphabetical order that ig
nores hyphens, spaces, and other punctuations. Each expres
sion is entered in its normal form and word order.
2. An entry head may have one or more alternate forms. The
main entry head and its alternate forms are printed in bold
face type, and the alternate forms are preceded by AND. Two
or more alternate forms are separated by a comma. Words en
closed in parentheses in any entry head are optional. For ex
ample: (poor) white trash stands for poor white trash and
white trash. When entry heads are referred to in the dictio
nary, they are printed in slanted type.
3. Some of the entry heads have more than one major sense.
These meanings are numbered with boldface numerals. Num
bered senses may also have additional forms that are shown in
boldface type after the numeral. See, for example, all-night
trick.
4. Alternate forms of the definitions are separated by semi
colons, and most definitions are followed by comments or ex
planations in parentheses. See, for example, barf.
5. Each entry or sense has either two examples printed in
italics or a reference to a note containing examples.
6. The entries or words within entries that are judged diffi
cult to pronounce are provided with a phonetic transcription.
VI!l