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unearths some literary gems.
From "'Lars Porsena,' or the Future of Swearing and Improper Language," by Robert Graves
***No form of humour is more boring than nonalcoholic substitutes for the true wine of swearing as "Great jumping beans!", "Ye little fishes!", "Snakes and ladders!" and "Jam and butter your whiskers, you irregular old Pentagon!"[Naturally, I disagree strongly with the assertion, and the proof is how much I enjoy the examples. (I don't know if Graves spotted any of these in the wild as oaths, or whether, as I hope, he simply imagines them as such, as I would have to assume is at least the case for the last one.)]***[Graves quoting a Sheridan play]"The ancients would never stick to an oath or two, but would say, by Jove! or by Bacchus! or by Mars! or by Venus! or by Pallas! according to the sentiment...this we call the oath referential or sentimental swearing."[Graves himself also makes mention of what he calls "negative swearing," which seems to encompass ironic benedictions as well as oaths so understated that they manage to imply loud, over-the-top cussing.]***[A naughty take on the Cholmondeley phenomenon]In Bigland’s Life and Times of Horatio Bottomley, a famous practical joker, he is said to have protested against this excess of delicacy by introducing himself to a member of the Siddybotaam [i.e., Sidebottom] family as "H, Bumley, Esq."[I think Graves made all of this up, btw.]***
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