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==Etymology==
[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._1100-1500_.09THE_MIDDLE_ENGLISH_PERIOD Middle English], from [[Latin]] vulgaris of the mob, vulgar, from volgus, vulgus mob, common people
*Date: [http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/14th_Century 14th century]
==Definitions==
*1 a : generally used, applied, or accepted
:b : [[understood]] in or having the ordinary sense <they reject the vulgar conception of [[miracle]] — W. R. Inge>
*2 : [[vernacular]] <the vulgar name of a plant>
*3 a : of or [[relating]] to the common people : plebeian
:b : generally current : [[public]] <the vulgar [[opinion]] of that time>
:c : of the usual, typical, or ordinary kind
*4 a : lacking in cultivation, [[perception]], or taste : coarse
:b : morally crude, undeveloped, or unregenerate : gross
:c : ostentatious or excessive in expenditure or display : pretentious
*5 a : offensive in [[language]] : [[earth]]y
:b : lewdly or profanely indecent
==Description==
A '''vulgarism''' (from Latin vulgus, the "mean folk"), also called scurrility, is a colloquialism of a low or unrefined [[character]], which substitutes a coarse, indecorous [[word]] where the context might lead the [[reader]] to expect a more refined [[expression]]. For example the term "the tits on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botticelli Botticelli]'s Venus" is a vulgarism. Vulgarisms are [[assumed]] to be [[associated]] with low and coarse [[motivations]] that were [[stereotypically]] supposed to be [[naturally]] endemic to the 'meaner classes', who were not moved by 'higher' motives like fame for posterity and [[honor]] among [[peers]]—motives that were alleged to move the literate classes. Thus the [[concept]] of vulgarism carries cultural freight from the outset, and from some [[social]] and [[religious]] [[perspectives]] it does not genuinely exist, or—and perhaps this amounts to the same thing—ought not to exist.
More broadly, vulgarity generally has a [[social]] and [[moral]] component. Whether [[deliberate]] or [[accidental]], the substitution of a commonplace word that is not a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphemism euphemism] draws [[attention]] to what may be a speaker's high-[[tone]]d [[moral]] superiority or sophistication but a fatal flaw in the usage often reveals that the speaker's [[ambitions]] are not based in [[reality]]. Vulgarisms therefore highlight the pretentious, showing people that lay unwarranted claim to social [[graces]] and [[education]] and attempt to inflate their [[status]] through the use of [[language]] they either cannot [[control]] or do not [[understand]].
[[Category: Languages and Literature]]
==Etymology==
[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._1100-1500_.09THE_MIDDLE_ENGLISH_PERIOD Middle English], from [[Latin]] vulgaris of the mob, vulgar, from volgus, vulgus mob, common people
*Date: [http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/14th_Century 14th century]
==Definitions==
*1 a : generally used, applied, or accepted
:b : [[understood]] in or having the ordinary sense <they reject the vulgar conception of [[miracle]] — W. R. Inge>
*2 : [[vernacular]] <the vulgar name of a plant>
*3 a : of or [[relating]] to the common people : plebeian
:b : generally current : [[public]] <the vulgar [[opinion]] of that time>
:c : of the usual, typical, or ordinary kind
*4 a : lacking in cultivation, [[perception]], or taste : coarse
:b : morally crude, undeveloped, or unregenerate : gross
:c : ostentatious or excessive in expenditure or display : pretentious
*5 a : offensive in [[language]] : [[earth]]y
:b : lewdly or profanely indecent
==Description==
A '''vulgarism''' (from Latin vulgus, the "mean folk"), also called scurrility, is a colloquialism of a low or unrefined [[character]], which substitutes a coarse, indecorous [[word]] where the context might lead the [[reader]] to expect a more refined [[expression]]. For example the term "the tits on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botticelli Botticelli]'s Venus" is a vulgarism. Vulgarisms are [[assumed]] to be [[associated]] with low and coarse [[motivations]] that were [[stereotypically]] supposed to be [[naturally]] endemic to the 'meaner classes', who were not moved by 'higher' motives like fame for posterity and [[honor]] among [[peers]]—motives that were alleged to move the literate classes. Thus the [[concept]] of vulgarism carries cultural freight from the outset, and from some [[social]] and [[religious]] [[perspectives]] it does not genuinely exist, or—and perhaps this amounts to the same thing—ought not to exist.
More broadly, vulgarity generally has a [[social]] and [[moral]] component. Whether [[deliberate]] or [[accidental]], the substitution of a commonplace word that is not a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphemism euphemism] draws [[attention]] to what may be a speaker's high-[[tone]]d [[moral]] superiority or sophistication but a fatal flaw in the usage often reveals that the speaker's [[ambitions]] are not based in [[reality]]. Vulgarisms therefore highlight the pretentious, showing people that lay unwarranted claim to social [[graces]] and [[education]] and attempt to inflate their [[status]] through the use of [[language]] they either cannot [[control]] or do not [[understand]].
[[Category: Languages and Literature]]