I promised to record audio of my translated passages from Beowulf, and I have. As a bonus, I’ve also recorded the introduction in the original version, for those who want to have an idea of how Old English was pronounced.… Continue reading →
tl;dr: I’ve translated the intro to Beowulf and the fight scene between Beowulf and Grendel into modern rural Western Canadian English, complete with lots of rude language. Why? Because I wanted to. Here it is. Slightly longer introduction: Some time ago, I was… Continue reading →
The following article appeared in the online news site the Baltimore Banner on 23 March 2026: Putting aside the fact that this headline is a wonderful example of the infinite expressiveness of language—expressing a thought that no one would ever… Continue reading →
Remember when vulgarity in American politics still seemed almost surprising? When it was considered noteworthy that Donald Trump swears a lot? When he forced The New York Times to be less tight-ass about censoring swears? When he made headlines around the world by… Continue reading →
I never fully adopted freaking as an intensifier, euphemistic for fucking, partly because I swear fairly freely, and maybe also because fecking was available in my Irish English dialect. But I like having freaking available, and with its hundredth birthday… Continue reading →
Note: This post was originally published in a slightly different form on Fritinancy, my Substack newsletter. * “DON’T GIVE A F#@&” shouts the headline on a two-page ad in a recent Sunday New York Times. Instead of giving a f#@&,… Continue reading →
As dawn rises on Aldersgate Street, small creatures rampage in the trash, and frosty tendrils of winter reach into the London fall. Various occupants of Slough House arrive swearing, as one tends to do if one is seconded to MI-5’s… Continue reading →
The intelligence officers of Slough House, good at everyday profanity, are proficient infixers and interposers, too. An infixing, remember, is when one inserts profanity into the structure of a word, at a stress appropriate point (unfuckingbelievable); an interposing inserts the… Continue reading →
A couple of years ago, people I know were talking about the Apple TV series Slow Horses, the television version of Mick Herron’s Slough House novels. I love espionage novels, and I like espionage television series, too, but I can’t… Continue reading →
Well, this is embarrassing: It’s been five years since we last published one of these link roundups. Obviously, we’re overdue for an update. Equally obviously, we’re not going to cover all the newsworthy sweary things that transpired between June 2020… Continue reading →