“An Orthographic Lament”

If an S and an I and an O and a U
With an X at the end spell Su;
And an E and a Y and an E spell I,
Pray what is a speller to do?

Then, if also an S and an I and a G
And an HED spell side,
There’s nothing much left for a speller to do
But to go and commit siouxeyesighed.

— Charles Follen Adams

| Humor · Language · Poems

British Swearing

The top 10 most offensive British profanities, according to a 2000 study:

  1. cunt
  2. motherfucker
  3. fuck
  4. wanker
  5. nigger
  6. bastard
  7. prick
  8. bollocks
  9. arsehole
  10. Paki

Only 10 percent regarded crap as “very severe”; 32 percent said it was “not swearing.”

| Language