“Why do you still do that, idiot?”
In this case, Lakoff says that the difference between using the words such as Shit and Damn with the words such as Oh dear and Jesus Christ is based on how
the people express their feeling.
16
Therefore, the power of emotion will be seen in choosing the swear words on the sentence. The strong swear words are based on
the emotion power of people in expressing their felling when use the swear words. Strong swears word is the word which is used to abuse and its characteristic is so
rude. Weak swear word is the word, which is used for abusing, and its characteristic is not as rude as the strong one.
C. The Relationship of Swear Word with Taboo Word
Swear words and taboo words actually have a close relationship. Trudgill explains that taboo words are often used as swear words because they have
magical power.
17
It means that the words are impolite and if the people use these words when they are angry or disappointed, they will feel satisfied because the
character of these words is very rude. That is why taboo words have magical power.
Taboo words are dangerous, holy, magic, or shocking expressions that are used by particular people in specific situation.
18
This kind of language is usually considered impolite. Hence, the usage of taboo words is forbidden in formal
situation. There are four main groups of taboo terms:
16
Lakoff, Robin 1975, op.cit. p.12
17
Trudgill, Peter. Sociolinguistic Great Britain: Hazel Watson,1974, p.30
18
Swan, Michael 1995, op.cit. p. 573
a. Lavatory
Lavatory is expressions that are referred to the elimination of bodily wastes.
19
Its terms are bounded from the activities that person does in the bathroom or toilet. For examples:
Piss = urinate Shit = excrement; defecate
Crap = excrement; defecate Fart = let digestive gas out from the anus
b. Private Parts of the body
Private parts of the body are terms that have relationship with people’s body. For instances:
Asshole = anus Balls = testicles
Cock = penis Tits = breast
c. Religion
At first, religion terms are expression of Christian religion that are used by some people in formal and respectful contexts, but nowadays its usage becomes
unkind and rough in casual situations.
20
For examples: Blast Christ Gosh
19
Swan, Michael 1995, op.cit. p. 573
20
Swan, Michael 1995, op.cit. p. 574
Christ Jesus Christ Jess
d. Sexual activity
Sexual activity is specific terms that have connection with sexual intercourse, oral sex, sexual climax, masturbation etc.
21
Its use is often prevented or substituted by different terms in formal situation. These are the example of
sexual activity expression: Bastard = child of unmarried parents
Come = orgasm Fuck = have sex with
Wank = masturbate When people decide to use taboo words, they look for the expressions that
have bad characters; therefore, they can express their feeling. For that purpose, people use the words which are considered taboo to be expressed both orally and
written. It means those words are the words that have bad characters. People who use these words can express their emotion. It was just like what Estrich and
Sperber explain, they say that the use of taboo words by all people when they get powerful emotion is the way to express the emotion.
22
The use of words, considered taboo always changes from time to time based on the user of society. Several years ago, the word Fuck which means, “have sex
with” and Cunt, which means “vagina”, has bad effect for the user. People who
21
Ibid. p. 574
22
Estrich, Robert and Sperber, Hans 1952, op.cit.p. 39
dare to use both of the words will be busted and sent to jail.
23
Thus, people avoided to use those words. At that time, people avoided to use those words
because they were afraid of the punishment. Now, in the modern age, there is no such punishment anymore if the people
dare to use taboo words.
24
It can be seen from American and British movie, the art literature from American and British and the other English country that use a
lot of taboo words as swear words. Today, the use of taboo is avoided because of fright and politeness, for
example, on formal situations. It can be seen on television show, on the radio or at the meeting. In this case, Ullman explains that the using of taboo words in certain
context such as television show will raise reaction those words.
25
It is because of fright, Ullman takes the example of some countries habit such as Jews. Jewish are not allowed to say the word which refers to God directly.
They have to use another phrase, ‘Master’, to replace the word, which cannot be used. The same case happens in English for the word ‘Lord’ or in France,
‘Seigneur’.
26
It is because of politeness, Ullman explains three points of taboo words. It is something which is related with sexual activity, certain parts of human body and
its function.
27
In 19
th
century, American women did not dare to use the word that refers to part of the body ‘Vagina’ directly, but they used another phrase, ‘pussy’.
They also liked to say ‘cock’ rather than ‘penis’ and prefer say ‘waist’ than
23
Trudgill, Peter 1974, op.cit. .p. 30.
24
Ibid.p.31
25
Ullman, Stephen. The science of Meaning Oxford: Barnes and Nobles Inc, 1962, p. 63
26
Ullman, Stephen1962, op.cit.p.63
27
Ibid. p. 64
‘body’. The words like ‘vagina’, ‘penis’ and body are impolite rather than substitute words.
28
28
Ibid. p.63
CHAPTER III RESEARCH FINDINGS
A. Data Description
