Number of words: 85 On the other side of the country, close to Aurangabad, is the small town of Khuldbad. Here lies the tomb of Aurangzeb, the last great Mughal emperor, who died in the eighteenth century, and ruled an empire stretching over most of India. Aurangzeb was a devout Muslim. In keeping with Islamic … Read more
Number of words: 85 According to lore, the sage Bhrigu was concerned that notwithstanding their knowledge of Vedas and the Puranas, economic prosperity eluded Brahmins. He therefore embarked on a long penance to propitiate the goddess of wealth and good fortune, Lakshmi. The goddess was pleased by his devotions. She appeared before him in a … Read more
Number of words: 182 Part of the solution to this linguistic puzzle is that expletives like bloody and fucking arose from the process by which one taboo word substitutes for another despite their having nothing else in common (the process that allowed where in hell to beget Where the fuck, and Holy mary to inspire … Read more
Number of words: 126 Sothesyntax of the verbs of sex uncovers two very different mental models of sexuality. The first is reminiscent of sex–education curricula, marriage manuals, and other sanctioned views: Sex is joint activity, details unspecified, which is mutually engaged in by two equal partners. The second is a darker view, somewhere between mammalian … Read more
Number of words: 474 Sex has high stakes, including exploitation, disease, illegitimacy, incest, jealousy, spousal abuse, cuckoldry, desertion, feuding, child abuse, and rape. These hazards have been around for a long time and have left their mark on our customs and our emotions. Thoughts about sex are likely to be fraught, and not entertained lightly. … Read more
Number of words: 545 The historical root of swearing in English and many other language is, oddly enough, religion. We see this in the third commandment, in the popularity of hell, damn, and God, and in many of the terms for taboo language itself: profanity (that which is not, sacred), blasphemy (literally “evil speech” but … Read more
Number of words: 772 The historical root of swearing in English and many other language is, oddly enough, religion. We see this in the third commandment, in the popularity of hell, damn, God, and Jesus Christ, and in many of the terms for taboo language itself: profanity (that which is not, sacred), blasphemy (literally “evil … Read more
Number of words: 467 Theubiquity and power of swearing suggest that taboo words may tap into deep and ancient parts of the emotional brain. Words have not just a denotation but a connotation: an emotional coloring distinct from what the word literally refers to, as in principled versus stubborn and slender versus scrawny. The difference … Read more
Number of words: 557 Shakespear wrote, “But words are words. I never yet did hear/That the bbruised heart was pierced through the ear.” Yet most people don’t see it that way. The FCC and network censors are not inveterate prudes; they are responding to a huge constituency of listeners who light up a station switchboard … Read more
Number of words: 299 I am from the village of Parra in Goa, hence we are called Parrikars. My village is famous for its watermelons. When I was a child, the farmers would organise a watermelon-eating contest at the end of the harvest season in May. All the kids would be invited to eat as … Read more
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