Strong Language
@stronglang.bsky.social
Sweary stuff about swearing from a group of linguists, lexicographers, and language lovers. Strong Language blog: https://stronglang.wordpress.com
Skeets by @sesquiotic.bsky.social & @stancarey.bsky.social
Skeets by @sesquiotic.bsky.social & @stancarey.bsky.social
Reposted by Strong Language
My 7 year old just reached for a piece of pizza fresh out of the oven and exclaimed, in the same tone as an adult swearing…
“English folklore, that’s hot!”
I choked laughing ENGLISH FOLKLORE AS A SWEAR? WHO ARE YOU?!?
“English folklore, that’s hot!”
I choked laughing ENGLISH FOLKLORE AS A SWEAR? WHO ARE YOU?!?
November 26, 2025 at 6:30 PM
My 7 year old just reached for a piece of pizza fresh out of the oven and exclaimed, in the same tone as an adult swearing…
“English folklore, that’s hot!”
I choked laughing ENGLISH FOLKLORE AS A SWEAR? WHO ARE YOU?!?
“English folklore, that’s hot!”
I choked laughing ENGLISH FOLKLORE AS A SWEAR? WHO ARE YOU?!?
Reposted by Strong Language
I've been referred to in print as a "cunt" by people I'd praised. The first time was by John Huston. We'd been friends and I'd defended him for years. But I wrote that NIGHT OF THE IGUANA was a lousy movie. So he called me a "cunt" to an interviewer. (1989)
November 25, 2025 at 5:34 PM
I've been referred to in print as a "cunt" by people I'd praised. The first time was by John Huston. We'd been friends and I'd defended him for years. But I wrote that NIGHT OF THE IGUANA was a lousy movie. So he called me a "cunt" to an interviewer. (1989)
"Is it even possible, linguistically, to 'give an e.l.f.'? Or a fuck?" @fritinancy.bsky.social reports on a new, swear-adjacent marketing campaign:
stronglang.wordpress.com/2025/11/21/d...
stronglang.wordpress.com/2025/11/21/d...
“Don’t give a f#@&”
Note: This post was originally published in a slightly different form on Fritinancy, my Substack newsletter. * “DON’T GIVE A F#@&” shouts the headline on a two-page ad in a recent Sunday New Yo…
stronglang.wordpress.com
November 21, 2025 at 8:13 AM
"Is it even possible, linguistically, to 'give an e.l.f.'? Or a fuck?" @fritinancy.bsky.social reports on a new, swear-adjacent marketing campaign:
stronglang.wordpress.com/2025/11/21/d...
stronglang.wordpress.com/2025/11/21/d...
Reposted by Strong Language
Added a new example of fucking ambiguity to my @stronglang.bsky.social post
stronglang.wordpress.com/2015/05/13/f...
stronglang.wordpress.com/2015/05/13/f...
Fucking ambiguity
In a post last month on the versatility of fuck, Rob Chirico wrote that the word has ‘escaped and run from the confines of its sexual root’. That is, most current uses of fuck are independent of se…
stronglang.wordpress.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Added a new example of fucking ambiguity to my @stronglang.bsky.social post
stronglang.wordpress.com/2015/05/13/f...
stronglang.wordpress.com/2015/05/13/f...
Reposting with alt text
November 18, 2025 at 9:34 AM
Reposting with alt text
"Clusterbleep". Not its first use, but a notable one from an Irish politician
www.thejournal.ie/barry-cowen-...
www.thejournal.ie/barry-cowen-...
'A clusterbleep' - Barry Cowen gives his take on Fianna Fáil handling of Jim Gavin controversy
Cowen, who was elected an MEP last year, says it’s up to the authors of the internal review to decide where the blame lies.
www.thejournal.ie
November 13, 2025 at 12:35 PM
"Clusterbleep". Not its first use, but a notable one from an Irish politician
www.thejournal.ie/barry-cowen-...
www.thejournal.ie/barry-cowen-...
Reposted by Strong Language
Reposted by Strong Language
My advice to would-be prescriptivists:
• Choose your battles.
• Don’t pick all the most classist “well, if you spoke Greek, you’d know this” battles.
• Know what you’re talking about before you talk about it.
• Choose your battles.
• Don’t pick all the most classist “well, if you spoke Greek, you’d know this” battles.
• Know what you’re talking about before you talk about it.
November 7, 2025 at 4:38 PM
My advice to would-be prescriptivists:
• Choose your battles.
• Don’t pick all the most classist “well, if you spoke Greek, you’d know this” battles.
• Know what you’re talking about before you talk about it.
• Choose your battles.
• Don’t pick all the most classist “well, if you spoke Greek, you’d know this” battles.
• Know what you’re talking about before you talk about it.
FTA: @stancarey.bsky.social minds the bollocks stronglang.wordpress.com/2016/01/06/n...
Never mind the bollocking, here’s the slang data
An unlikely swearword hit the headlines twice in recent days, thanks to its use on mainstream television from two prominent figures. In the first clip below, celebrity journalist Piers Morgan uses …
stronglang.wordpress.com
November 7, 2025 at 5:00 PM
FTA: @stancarey.bsky.social minds the bollocks stronglang.wordpress.com/2016/01/06/n...
FTA: @gretchenmcc.bsky.social on unfixable outbursts stronglang.wordpress.com/2015/12/27/a...
*Abso-hallelujah-lutely: Infixes can’t be interjections (but what are they?)
Two weeks ago, I wrote a post about why you can’t say *abso-jesus-lutely, pointing out that you can only infix certain kinds of swears. In response, Ed Cormany asked on Twitter whether I thou…
stronglang.wordpress.com
November 4, 2025 at 3:59 PM
FTA: @gretchenmcc.bsky.social on unfixable outbursts stronglang.wordpress.com/2015/12/27/a...
FTA: @markpetersjokes.bsky.social on what kind of bullshit this fuckery is stronglang.wordpress.com/2015/12/14/a...
A clusterfuck of fuckery
I wrote a book about words for bullshit this year, but I missed some words. I think my most egregious omission was fuckery. That’s a damn popular word for unadulterated bullshit.
stronglang.wordpress.com
October 30, 2025 at 3:37 PM
FTA: @markpetersjokes.bsky.social on what kind of bullshit this fuckery is stronglang.wordpress.com/2015/12/14/a...
It's all kicking off in Stourbridge
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Swearing Dudley parking wardens criticised by MP Cat Eccles
Cat Eccles says she has personally witnessed poor behaviour by parking enforcement contractors.
www.bbc.com
October 30, 2025 at 8:42 AM
It's all kicking off in Stourbridge
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Reposted by Strong Language
As someone who grew up with "Zounds!" and other bizarre minced oaths, I can't tell you how pleasing it was to see "Odds bods!" (a euphemism for "God's body") in a comic book yesterday
Been trying out "dag nabbit!" recently as an exclamation, just working it back into the rotation a little. Adding a little Yosemite Sam to the day when things are tough. A touch of disappointed Sam Elliott during trying times. I recommend it.
May 13, 2025 at 5:19 PM
As someone who grew up with "Zounds!" and other bizarre minced oaths, I can't tell you how pleasing it was to see "Odds bods!" (a euphemism for "God's body") in a comic book yesterday
Reposted by Strong Language
Genuinely delighted to download a PhD thesis from a university repository where the author has neglected to remove the words "BITCH THIS IS YOUR THESIS" from the filename.
October 30, 2025 at 8:21 AM
Genuinely delighted to download a PhD thesis from a university repository where the author has neglected to remove the words "BITCH THIS IS YOUR THESIS" from the filename.
Reposted by Strong Language
For instance:
1963 K. Waterhouse Jubb (1966) 138: Bloody sodding hellfire Jesus Christ All-hopping Mighty!
1963 K. Waterhouse Jubb (1966) 138: Bloody sodding hellfire Jesus Christ All-hopping Mighty!
October 24, 2025 at 3:22 PM
For instance:
1963 K. Waterhouse Jubb (1966) 138: Bloody sodding hellfire Jesus Christ All-hopping Mighty!
1963 K. Waterhouse Jubb (1966) 138: Bloody sodding hellfire Jesus Christ All-hopping Mighty!
Reposted by Strong Language
GDoS has examples for these (less fuck + variants): bally, bastard, bitch, blanky, blasted, bleeding, blessed, bloody, blooming, bully, by-god, damn, flaming, freaking, fricking, frigging, god-damn, hell-fired, hopping, like, motherfucker, motherfucking, raasclat, rotten, ruddy, shagging.
October 24, 2025 at 3:21 PM
GDoS has examples for these (less fuck + variants): bally, bastard, bitch, blanky, blasted, bleeding, blessed, bloody, blooming, bully, by-god, damn, flaming, freaking, fricking, frigging, god-damn, hell-fired, hopping, like, motherfucker, motherfucking, raasclat, rotten, ruddy, shagging.
Reposted by Strong Language
FTA: @gretchenmcc.bsky.social on why you absoshitheadlutely cannot use just any swear as an infix stronglang.wordpress.com/2015/12/14/a...
Abso-jesus-lutely not: Why can you infix “fucking” and “bloody” but not other swears?
Here’s a puzzle: why can’t you say “abso-jesus-lutely”? (Recently brought to my attention by Leland Paul Kusmer.) Let’s back up for a sec. The classic case of expletiv…
stronglang.wordpress.com
October 24, 2025 at 2:55 PM
FTA: @gretchenmcc.bsky.social on why you absoshitheadlutely cannot use just any swear as an infix stronglang.wordpress.com/2015/12/14/a...
Reposted by Strong Language
Attention @stronglang.bsky.social
Fuck this fucking malignant narcissist motherfucker and fuck all the corrupt motherfucking fuckheads who enable this evil orange fucking monstrosity.
Trump: "They start using foul language, but they use too much of it. You know, you can't use the F word 7 times in one sentence. It doesn't work. It might work once every 7 news conferences."
October 24, 2025 at 12:23 AM
Attention @stronglang.bsky.social
omfg
Local legislator displays the importance of kerning
October 22, 2025 at 6:00 PM
omfg
Reposted by Strong Language
OK I get it it's a public-facing article etc etc, but "researchers now argue the ‘power’ of taboo words has been overlooked"?! @stronglang.bsky.social has been around since, what, 2014, full of researchers, linguists and lexicographers discussing the power of swearing. Kate has been publishing and
Italian blasphemy and German ingenuity: how swear words differ around the world
Once dismissed as a sign of low intelligence, researchers now argue the ‘power’ of taboo words has been overlooked
www.theguardian.com
October 19, 2025 at 8:05 AM
OK I get it it's a public-facing article etc etc, but "researchers now argue the ‘power’ of taboo words has been overlooked"?! @stronglang.bsky.social has been around since, what, 2014, full of researchers, linguists and lexicographers discussing the power of swearing. Kate has been publishing and
Reposted by Strong Language
...so enjoy instead my 2022 @stronglang.bsky.social post on merkins:
stronglang.wordpress.com/2022/03/24/t...
stronglang.wordpress.com/2022/03/24/t...
This merkin life
After John Kelly published his comprehensive post on merkin in 2015, I assumed there could be little left to say about those pubic hairpieces with the quaint name. (You should read the whole post, …
stronglang.wordpress.com
October 16, 2025 at 5:38 PM
...so enjoy instead my 2022 @stronglang.bsky.social post on merkins:
stronglang.wordpress.com/2022/03/24/t...
stronglang.wordpress.com/2022/03/24/t...
Reposted by Strong Language
👀
Cock Gush
United States, Census, 1900
United States, Census, 1900
October 10, 2025 at 5:56 PM
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