Changes

==Etymology==

==Etymology==

[https://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

[https://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]

*Date: [https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/14th_Century 14th century]

==Definitions==

==Definitions==

*1 a : generally used, applied, or accepted  

*1 a : generally used, applied, or accepted  

:b : lewdly or profanely indecent

:b : lewdly or profanely indecent

==Description==

==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 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birth_of_Venus_(Botticelli) 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.

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 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botticelli Botticelli]'s [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birth_of_Venus_(Botticelli) 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]].

More broadly, vulgarity generally has a [[social]] and [[moral]] component. Whether [[deliberate]] or [[accidental]], the substitution of a commonplace word that is not a [https://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]]

[[Category: Languages and Literature]]