Data Science graphic of the month
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stephsmithio, "Swear words in Taylor Swift albums [OC]", r/dataisbeautiful:
A few quick trips to the Google Books Ngram Viewer will confirm that Ms. Swift is tracing larger-scale trends, e.g.
Also, see John McWhorter, "Curses Aren’t ‘Just Words’", The Atlantic 5/4/2021.
And maybe also "Male and female word usage", 8/7/2014.
François Lang said,
May 2, 2024 @ 2:04 pm
OK, but as I understand it, TTPD is a double album, but even so, "bitch", "fuck" and "hell" still see a big spike.
Thomas said,
May 2, 2024 @ 4:35 pm
I don't think “hell” qualifies as a swear word. But maybe in the US, it actually does.
JPL said,
May 2, 2024 @ 5:54 pm
My father used a lot of swear words; his speech was peppered with them, together with a lot of slang that I wish I could remember. But there seems to have been a change in the pattern of conventional swear-word use between my father's generation and the current generation (broadly defined), which could probably be documented. Not so much religion-based, more sex-based and misogynistic, it seems, for ex. For example, the word 'bitch' seems to suit the rap and hip-hop scene practitioners, but my father almost always used that word in the context "son of a __". My question is, since the expression "son of a bitch" is a mama curse, why don't we have more of "daughter of a bitch", instead of plain "bitch"? (I can't say I've ever heard anybody say this, even though I've had that question for a long time.) Is it only "too many syllables"? Where did the pejorative or insulting connotations of the latter come from, since I think they're different from those of the original ?
Chas Belov said,
May 3, 2024 @ 12:24 am
@Thomas: "hell" as an interjection or intensifier is considered impolite by some in the US; even Oakland's "hella" has occasionally been bowdlerized to "hecka."
Nat said,
May 3, 2024 @ 2:57 am
The Taylor Swift graph looks exponentional. But the Google ngram shows a peak. Is that real? Or maybe some kind of artifact. It would be interesting if it has peaked, and I'd love to know why, or even just hear speculations.
KeithB said,
May 3, 2024 @ 9:05 am
nat:
I think ngram always shows that, since it has not had time to digest all the references.
Jonathan Smith said,
May 3, 2024 @ 9:08 am
If exponential the all cuss words album is only a couple years away — I look forward
Xtifr said,
May 3, 2024 @ 12:52 pm
@Nat: one possibility that leaps to mind is that unbowdlerized forms are displacing bowdlerized ones. If so, then there would be a fairly natural limit for the displacement to approach: the level of bowdlerized forms previously in use.
Nat said,
May 4, 2024 @ 12:40 am
@Jonathan
I'm preordering it. Very excited!
@Xtifr
That's a nice suggestion!
Now that I look at it more carefully, the Taylor Swift scale is absolute numbers, while the Ngram is percentages. That's a bit apples to oranges, isn't it?
Boris said,
May 16, 2024 @ 2:30 pm
@JPL,
A bitch (in the literal sense) is by definition a daughter of a bitch, so it's redundant. I can also confirm that Russian has a parallel situation (though "Сукина Дочь Daughter of a Bitch" is the name of a Russian band)