Jim McCawley (erstwhile professor of linguistics at the University of Chicago, who wrote his scatolinguistic treatises under the noms de plume of Quang Phuc Dong and Yuck Foo, both of the fictional South Hanoi Institute of Technology) is credited, on page viiii of the preface of Studies out in left field as having "created the interdisciplinary field[s] 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). But, given the lack of any cognates such as "pornolinguistics" (despite the above) or "coitolinguistics", it has come to cover the study (including etymology and current usage) of all rude and profane expressions. James D. McCawley (March 30 1938–April 10 1999) worked at the Department of Linguistics at the University of Chicago from 1964 until his sudden and unexpected death. ... Broadly conceived, linguistics is the study of human language, and a linguist is someone who engages in this study. ... A pen name or nom de plume is a pseudonym adopted by an author. ... 1967 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Scatology, or coprology, in medicine, biology and paleontology, is the study of feces. ... Cognates are words that have a common origin. ... Etymology is the study of the origins of words. ... Profanity is a word choice or usage which its audience considers to be offensive. ...

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 humourous 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 humour, partly because it is a rich vein for comedians such as George Carlin, or as a minor entertaining diversion. There is definite public interest in the field, although the relation to humour has meant that entertaining false etymologies (such as the "for unlawful carnal knowledge" false etymology) have tended to be more prevalent in popular culture than the results of serious linguistic analysis have. This article discusses humour in terms of comedy and laughter. ... George Carlin in the film Jersey Girl George Carlin (born May 12, 1937 in New York City) is an Irish American (I used to be Irish Catholic, now Im an American. ... A fake etymology, also known as a false etymology, is an invented explanation (etymology) for the origin of a word. ... Fuck is among the strongest and most controversial vulgarisms in the modern English language and probably the most well known profanity in the world. ...

Scatolinguistic topics in Wikipedia

• Fuck
• Cunt
• Arse
• Shit

Fuck is among the strongest and most controversial vulgarisms in the modern English language and probably the most well known profanity in the world. ... Cunt is an English term that refers to the human female genitals. ... Arse is a word for buttocks. ... Wiktionary has a definition of: Shit Shit is a vernacular word in Modern English denoting the feces, the solid byproduct of digestion. ...

Literature

• The F Word, Jesse Sheidlower (1999) ISBN 0375706348.
• Studies out in left field ISBN 1556194609
• Maledicta ISSN US 0363-3659

Maledicta (ISSN US 0363-3659) is a scholarly journal dedicated to the study of offensive and negatively-valued words and expressions. ...

External links

• Epitaph of Jim McCawley (http://humanities.uchicago.edu./depts/linguistics/McCawley.html)
• Review of The F Word (http://www.silverman-esquire.com/the-f-word.html) — A suggestion of "coitolinguistics" as a cognate
• "A brief outline of English Scatolinguistics" (http://www.bbc.co.uk./dna/h2g2/A753527) — H2G2 article