Re:Profanity works
by khafra on Thursday August 21, 2008 @08:08AM
(#282565)
1) "imagery of...corpulation[sic]" (more properly "corpulence") would be something like the average American, shirtless. I think you were looking for "imagery of copulation."
2) Swearing is certainly an oratory or rhetorical technique. Its cheapness or sophistication depends on how it's used. I'm not pointing to this as the zenith of eloquent profanity, but phrases like "Jesus H. tap-dancing Christ," from the movie Blues Brothers, have had as much lasting impact on colloquial speech as Virgil or Homer did, in their day.
2) Swearing is certainly an oratory or rhetorical technique. Its cheapness or sophistication depends on how it's used. I'm not pointing to this as the zenith of eloquent profanity, but phrases like "Jesus H. tap-dancing Christ," from the movie Blues Brothers, have had as much lasting impact on colloquial speech as Virgil or Homer did, in their day.