Jim McCawley (1938–1999, professor of

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

at the University of Chicago, who wrote his scatolinguistic treatises under the

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

s of ''Quang Phúc Đông'' and ''Yuck Foo'', both of the fictional South Hanoi Institute of Technology) is credited, on page ix of the preface of ''Studies out in left field'' as having "created the interdisciplinary field of pornolinguistics and scatolinguistics virtually on his own" in 1967. Technically, scatolinguistics is the study of the words for various forms of excrement (compare

scatology In medicine and biology, scatology or coprology is the study of faeces. Scatological studies allow one to determine a wide range of biological information about a creature, including its diet (and thus where it has been), health and diseases ...

). But, given the lack of any

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...

s such as "pornolinguistics" (despite the above) or "coitolinguistics", it has come to cover the study (including

etymology Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...

and current usage) of all rude and profane expressions.

How linguists view the field

Although most (if not all) of the words that might be termed ''scatolingual'' have been thoroughly studied and described by linguists, ''scatolinguistics'' is not generally regarded as a peer-reviewed area or classification of linguistic study. Further, the etymology of this term has been criticised as being more humorous than accurate or appropriate for the range of words it is apparently meant to include.

How the public views the field

The attitude of the general public towards the field is often to treat it as humor, partly because it is a rich vein for comedians such as

George Carlin George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, actor and author. Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential comedians of all time, he was dubbed "the dean of countercultur ...

, or as a minor entertaining diversion. Viz magazine'
Profanisaurus
is a detailed example. There is definite public interest in the field, although the relation to humor has meant that entertaining

false etymologies A false etymology (fake etymology or pseudo-etymology) is a false theory about the origin or derivation of a specific word or phrase. When a false etymology becomes a popular belief in a cultural/linguistic community, it is a folk etymology (or po ...

(such as the "

for unlawful carnal knowledge ''For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge'' (often abbreviated as F.U.C.K.) is the ninth studio album by American rock band Van Halen. It was released on June 17, 1991, on Warner Bros. Records and is the third to feature vocalist Sammy Hagar. It debuted ...

" false etymology) have tended to be more prevalent in popular culture than the results of serious linguistic analysis have.

Scatolinguistic topics in Wikipedia

Fuck ''Fuck'' () is profanity in the English language that often refers to the act of sexual intercourse, but is also commonly used as an intensifier or to convey disdain. While its origin is obscure, it is usually considered to be first attested ...

Cunt "Cunt" () is a vulgar word for the vulva in its primary sense, and it is used in a variety of ways, including as a term of disparagement. "Cunt" is often used as a disparaging and obscene term for a woman in the United States, an unpleas ...

Arse Arse or ARSE may refer to: * A Commonwealth English slang term for the buttocks * Arse, the name for the Iberian settlement of modern-day Sagunto * Arse, Indonesia Arse is a district in the South Tapanuli Regency, North Sumatra North Sumat ...

Shit ''Shit'' is an English-language profanity. As a noun, it refers to fecal matter, and as a verb it means to defecate; in the plural ("the shits"), it means diarrhea. ''Shite'' is a common variant in British and Irish English. As a slang ...

Mozart and scatology Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart displayed toilet humour, scatological humour in his letters and multiple recreational compositions. This material has long been a puzzle for Mozart scholarship. Some scholars try to understand it in terms of its role in M ...

Toilet humour Toilet humour or potty humour is a type of off-colour humour dealing with: defecation (including diarrhea and constipation), in which case it is called scatological humour (compare scatology); urination; flatulence, in which case it is called f ...

Literature

* ''The F Word'',

Jesse Sheidlower Jesse Sheidlower (born August 5, 1968) is a lexicographer, editor, author, and programmer. He is past president of the American Dialect Society, was the project editor of the Random House ''Dictionary of American Slang'', and is the author of '' ...

(1999) . * ''Studies out in left field'' * ''

Maledicta ''Maledicta'', ''The International Journal of Verbal Aggression'', was an academic journal dedicated to the study of offensive and negatively valued words and expressions, also known as maledictology. Its main areas of interest were the origin, e ...

'' ISSN US 0363-3659

External links

Epitaph of Jim McCawley

"A brief outline of English Scatolinguistics"
— H2G2 article {{morecat, date=July 2024 Scatolinguistics