Elliemarianna, it is a huge insult to Anne. I agree. And that’s exactly what bothers me most, the fact that PG seems to have no respect for her and continues to slander Anne’s name.
But like I said looking at TOBG from just a fictional POV then it’s a pretty decent book but since the book is based on real people and a real story then it’s really quite insulting and it doesn’t make it any better for PG to act like a know it all.
• Grumble all you like, this is how it’s going to be.
4:25 pm
January 3, 2012
It is indeed the C word, But like i said I do find it difficult to believe that the word would be used in high sociaty. Anne was an educated woman and for to use coarse words like this, just isn’t how I picture her, I sure she would have found subtler words to refer to the C word. Yes I can imagine people like Mark Smeaton, Henry Mannox and Francis Derham using them as they weren’t top drawer status. But Anne no sorry I don’t buy into it.
I know they used to swear but it was mainly like this “By God’s blood, or By God’s teeth.
Semper Fidelis, quod sum quod
10:35 pm
April 9, 2011
Just a quick history on the C word from Wikipedia:
The word appears to have been in common usage from the Middle Ages until the eighteenth century.
C has been in common use in its anatomical meaning since at least the 13th century
The word appears several times in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (c. 1390), in bawdy contexts, but it does not appear to be considered obscene at this point, since it is used openly
By Shakespeare’s day, the word seems to have become obscene.
Based upon this brief timeline, even though we woouldn’t imagine a lady of today would use the vulgar word, it was probably still an acceptable word for a lady to use, especially when referring to their anatomy as Anne and Mary does in the book. At no point do their use the word to describe a person. I admit I was thrown when they used the word as I thought it most unlady like, but after research I thought it coud be plausible that they would use the word, especially in private.
3:46 am
November 18, 2010
words fall in and out of fashion over the years.
I remember laughing at Gropec***lane in York(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G…..ec***_Lane) as a child.
And lets not forget fanny. In US/Canada it means butt/botttom while in Britsh English , it’s one of the more polite forms of the c-word…
Words meanings and attitudes change as society developes. My grand-parents would never have said shit, piss or the f-word. my uncle who was a serving WWII soldier had to moderate his language around us, until he discoverd my sister and I had as profane a vocabulary as his..
It's always bunnies.
3:52 am
November 18, 2010
Bill1978 said
Just a quick history on the C word from Wikipedia:
The word appears to have been in common usage from the Middle Ages until the eighteenth century.
C has been in common use in its anatomical meaning since at least the 13th century
The word appears several times in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (c. 1390), in bawdy contexts, but it does not appear to be considered obscene at this point, since it is used openly
By Shakespeare’s day, the word seems to have become obscene.
Based upon this brief timeline, even though we woouldn’t imagine a lady of today would use the vulgar word, it was probably still an acceptable word for a lady to use, especially when referring to their anatomy as Anne and Mary does in the book. At no point do their use the word to describe a person. I admit I was thrown when they used the word as I thought it most unlady like, but after research I thought it coud be plausible that they would use the word, especially in private.
To me, it a word like the N-word or f@ggot..people who are part of the group use it as a description but woe-betide some-one from out of the gruop using it as a perogrative.
On the same way sl*t is being re-claimed by some women as a positive attribute. I’m one who refuses to be shamed by that word and the attitude which says women are not allowed to explore their sexuality.
(climbs off soap-box…..)
It's always bunnies.
3:54 am
November 18, 2010
Bill1978 said
Just a quick history on the C word from Wikipedia:
The word appears to have been in common usage from the Middle Ages until the eighteenth century.
C has been in common use in its anatomical meaning since at least the 13th century
The word appears several times in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (c. 1390), in bawdy contexts, but it does not appear to be considered obscene at this point, since it is used openly
By Shakespeare’s day, the word seems to have become obscene.
Based upon this brief timeline, even though we woouldn’t imagine a lady of today would use the vulgar word, it was probably still an acceptable word for a lady to use, especially when referring to their anatomy as Anne and Mary does in the book. At no point do their use the word to describe a person. I admit I was thrown when they used the word as I thought it most unlady like, but after research I thought it coud be plausible that they would use the word, especially in private.
To me, it a word like the N-word or f@ggot..people who are part of the group use it as a description but woe-betide some-one from out of the gruop using it as a perogrative.
On the same way sl*t is being re-claimed by some women as a positive attribute. I’m one who refuses to be shamed by that word and the attitude which says women are not allowed to explore their sexuality.
(climbs off soap-box…..)
It's always bunnies.
11:41 am
January 3, 2012
Thinking about it is entirely possible that the C word was used. As Ayanka says word meaning do change, and become bastardized, which is a shame. But some how as I said I can’t see Anne using the C word even in private. I would imagine her using the French word for it.
In Victorian sociaty the word they used to describe a womb, was a materisse(excuse spelling) which I think is a super word.
Semper Fidelis, quod sum quod
4:18 pm
February 24, 2010
8:55 pm
December 5, 2009
2:41 am
November 18, 2010
9:46 am
June 7, 2011
Bitch was the pagan word for Greek goddess of the hunt, Artemis (Diana in the Roman pantheon) who was often portrayed with a pack of hunting dogs and sometimes transformed into an animal herself. The modern word bitch comes from the Old English bicce, which probably developed from the Norse bikkje, all meaning ‘female dog’. Its use as an insult was propagated into Old English by the Christian rulers of the Dark Age to suppress the idea of femininity as sacred. The insult “son of a bitch” (biche sone in Old English) originated to ridicule spiritual pagans, who worshipped Diana.
"It is however but Justice, & my Duty to declre that this amiable Woman was entirely innocent of the Crimes with which she was accused, of which her Beauty, her Elegance, & her Sprightliness were sufficient proofs..." Jane Austen.
12:57 pm
January 3, 2012
I like a lot of the old English words. They are more polite and a lot less vulgar. The trouble is profanity has become the normal way of speech these days, and as for the words Please and Thank you they’ve gone completely to pot. Thankfully there are a few of us left that have Manners, Morals and respect for other people.
Even comedians can’t even tell a joke without using profanity somewhere in it to get a laugh. My advice is if you can’t tell a joke without using profanity don’t bother, true comic talent doesn’t need it..
Ellie that’s interesting thanks for that…I do know that the F word comes from fliser which I think means to hit in German (don’t quote me) but how Fliser, became the F word I don’t know..
Semper Fidelis, quod sum quod
7:53 pm
December 5, 2009
10:32 pm
November 18, 2010
Boleyn said
It is indeed the C word, But like i said I do find it difficult to believe that the word would be used in high sociaty. Anne was an educated woman and for to use coarse words like this, just isn’t how I picture her, I sure she would have found subtler words to refer to the C word. Yes I can imagine people like Mark Smeaton, Henry Mannox and Francis Derham using them as they weren’t top drawer status. But Anne no sorry I don’t buy into it.
I know they used to swear but it was mainly like this “By God’s blood, or By God’s teeth.
Manox indeed used that word when describing KH
I know her well enough for I have had her by the c$%^ and know it amongst a hundred
Fox Jane Boleyn p 269
It's always bunnies.
8:34 pm
January 3, 2012
Thank you Anyanka. It’s an odd word. I rather think that the C word itself was not meant as we see the word these days.
The word Bastard for intence means base born or illigetimately born but these days it used as a swear word against someone. It’s meant as a derogatary term, rather than a factual term.
As it goes I’m actually re-reading TOBG (Must be a glutton for punishment where SWMNBN is concerned) but this time around I’m finding it a little less in making me spit feathers, and am viewing it more from fictional point of view and just enjoying reading a story as one would if reading something like Enid Blyton.
Semper Fidelis, quod sum quod
12:48 am
November 18, 2010
1:03 am
January 3, 2012
Anyanka I agree. It really does frost my cookies too.
I was watching something earlier which made me want to jump up and down and what to throw something hard at someone, (possibly Dinosaur as he was nearest)
Some so called historian claims he has proof that Anne. B and Mark Smeaton were actually having an affair and that the incest alligation made against Anne was true. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR His evidence it seems comes from some poem that was written in French by someone in the French Ambassadors household. What hogwash.
Semper Fidelis, quod sum quod
5:22 am
January 9, 2010
^ Is that the Lancelot de Carles poem? The historian G W Bernard comes to the conclusion that Anne was guilty of having an affair with Norris and probably with Mark Smeaton in his book ‘Anne Boleyn: Fatal Attractions’. Can’t agree with his conclusions that Anne was actually guilty but it’s an interesting read nonetheless.