Sign in

Strong Language

@stronglang.bsky.social
3.1K followers 96 following 302 posts

Sweary stuff about swearing from a group of linguists, lexicographers, and language lovers. Strong Language blog: stronglang.wordpress.com Skeets by @sesquiotic.bsky.social & @stancarey.bsky.social & @fritinancy.bsky.social

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Strong Language
Eric Lotze @ericlotze.com · 28/09/2026
I read @fritinancy.bsky.social religiously, but I’m going to need a second coffee to steel myself before I open this email
An email preview that says: “Nancy Friedman/
/Three words of the week/
Pervert glasses, meat proxy, vagmaxxing.”
0103
Strong Language @stronglang.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
FTA: @mashedradish.bsky.social with more abusive language from the Bard stronglang.wordpress.com/2016/07/10/m...
stronglang.wordpress.com
“More man? Plague, plague!”: How to curse like a misanthrope
Shakespeare’s The Life of Timon of Athens is an overlooked gem in his corpus. Though less accomplished than many of his other tragedies, this moral drama is distinctive – and timely – in its focus …
042
Strong Language @stronglang.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Ucking shi! It's a decade since @stancarey.bsky.social wrote this for Strong Language and nearly two decades since Flight of the Conchords was aired stronglang.wordpress.com/2016/06/23/f...
stronglang.wordpress.com
Flight of the Conchords uckin’ with my shi-
New Zealand comedy duo Flight of the Conchords, consisting of Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement, had a two-season TV series in 2007–09 full of inspired parody and goofy adventures. The show’s langu…
062
Strong Language @stronglang.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
FTA: Rob Chirico on the not-quite-so-dirty old days stronglang.wordpress.com/2016/06/22/w...
stronglang.wordpress.com
When lyrics were clean, almost
The Greek philosopher Plato wrote, “Forms and rhythms in music are never altered without producing changes in the entire fabric of society.” He also said, “No evil can happen to a good man, either …
000
Reposted by Strong Language
Josh Chafetz @joshchafetz.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
FINALLY www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/its...
mcsweeneys.net
It’s Decorative Gourd Season, Motherfuckers
For the seventeenth year: Welcome to autumn, fuckheads.
627048
Strong Language @stronglang.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
FTA: Rob Chirico talks about bad words over Broadway stronglang.wordpress.com/2016/06/07/g...
stronglang.wordpress.com
Give my revamps to Broadway
When Stephen Sondheim was writing the lyrics for “Gee, Officer Krupke,” to be sung in the 1957 musical West Side Story, he was hoping to be the first person to use a serious four-letter obscenity…
011
Strong Language @stronglang.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
FTA: @sesquiotic.bsky.social and some more —king linguistic —t stronglang.wordpress.com/2016/05/25/w...
stronglang.wordpress.com
Why the f— do we do this and why the —k don’t we do that?
OK, look at this f—ing s—. And this f—king sh—. And this f–cking sh–t. And how about this s—t? Really, who are the c—s, c—ts, or c–nts who do that? And, more importantly, why the —k don’t those —nt…
031
Strong Language @stronglang.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Blogs fucking rule.
061
Strong Language @stronglang.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
FTA: Some shit posting from @ivacheung.com stronglang.wordpress.com/2016/05/17/a...
stronglang.wordpress.com
A rather shit post
Sometime in the twentieth century, shit—having already long been a verb and then a noun—also became an adjective, as in He was a shit teacher or That restaurant has shit service. Exactly when this …
083
Strong Language @stronglang.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
FTA: Rob Chirico looks at some motherfuggin protest songs stronglang.wordpress.com/2016/04/28/u...
stronglang.wordpress.com
Up against the wall, mother-fugger
As much as the youthful Norman Mailer may have enjoyed inflating his self-image by inundating friend and foe with a superheated geyser of “fucks,” his favorite word wasn’t acceptable for the printe…
010
Strong Language @stronglang.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
New paper on swearing online! "Findings demonstrate that while it remains important to examine who swears online, it is also critical to examine other dimensions of variability, including where, when, how, and with whom swear words are used." academic.oup.com/dsh/article/...
academic.oup.com
Swearing online: exploring dimensions of variability in born-digital data
Abstract. Swearing involves the use of words interpreted as obscene, derogatory, or offensive, and so can have a significant societal impact in the digital
031
Strong Language @stronglang.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
FTA: How can Shakespeare be rude? Let @mashedradish.bsky.social count the ways stronglang.wordpress.com/2016/04/23/f...
stronglang.wordpress.com
Four hundred years later, the Bard’s “pizzle” is still nice and stiff
Four hundred years ago today, Shakespeare shuffled off this mortal coil. Across the globe, bardolators are observing the date – if not the whole month, nay, year – with various celebrations of his …
032
Strong Language @stronglang.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Helen Mirren: "I was thrown out of quite a few pubs in the old days when women weren’t supposed to be swearing in pubs." www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/mob... Archived: archive.is/GavBj
'“Oh, my God! Every other word is the c-word or the f-word.” Mirren, now 81, is a woman of the world but is she even slightly uncomfortable using the c-word so often? “I don’t have an issue with it at all,” she says cheerfully. “I’m an actor. I was thrown out of quite a few pubs in the old days when women weren’t supposed to be swearing in pubs.”'
0173
Reposted by Strong Language
Nancy Friedman @fritinancy.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
The @stronglang.bsky.social blog now has an AI policy, thanks to @stancarey.bsky.social: share.google/oCozJgDuCK1O...
share.google
AI policy
Strong Language aims to be free of AI-generated text and images. We want the site to remain the exclusive product of human effort and character – not becacked by something that anyone can toss off …
193
Reposted by Strong Language
Joanne Mason @jmasoneditor.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
I think it's my favorite AI policy thus far. 🙂
011
Reposted by Strong Language
Stan Carey @stancarey.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
We've added an AI policy to the @stronglang.bsky.social blog: stronglang.wordpress.com/ai-policy/
4205
Strong Language @stronglang.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
FTA: @stancarey.bsky.social introduces a bit of cuntry music stronglang.wordpress.com/2016/04/13/f...
stronglang.wordpress.com
Four Femmes on the Thames: ‘Woman up and grow a twat!’
The Four Femmes on the Thames are a cabaret-style group who specialise in old-style jazz and swing music with a comedy twist. Their song ‘Woman Up’ was described by Holly Brockwell at Gadgette as t…
022
Strong Language @stronglang.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
AI? Fuck no stronglang.wordpress.com/ai-policy/
stronglang.wordpress.com
AI policy
Strong Language aims to be free of AI-generated text and images. We want the site to remain the exclusive product of human effort and character – not becacked by something that anyone can toss off …
051
Reposted by Strong Language
Sue Kirk @suekirk.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Font choice is important, kids
Credits on TOTP 1982 'dance director Flick Colby' Don't choice makes it look like Fuck Colby.
093
Reposted by Strong Language
Mike Trinder @chthonicionic.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Nothing quite says “I don’t give a shit what my posters look like, AI did them for free” than calling the kiddies teacup ride “TON CUNT”
An AI generated poster. Amongst other egregious errors, the teacup ride tent has a big sign, front and centre, saying “Ton Cunt”
12293112
Strong Language @stronglang.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Lexical AND syntactic ambiguity ftw
180
Reposted by Strong Language
~daniel_barker~ @daniel-barker.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
I beg your pardon, Connections
Section of a Connections game which reads SPUNK CHOKED UP OVERCOME
1271
Reposted by Strong Language
Vince Mancini @vincemancini.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
This is why you can’t just name kids after what they did a lot as a baby
311632
Reposted by Strong Language
Mara Wilson @marawilson.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Happy to report that typing swear words does indeed get rid of ads on Pinterest Also, chicken carcass soup is not as horrifying as it sounds
A search on Pinterest reading “instant pot chicken carcass soup fuck”
3048938
Strong Language @stronglang.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Why You Sometimes See Naughty Words in NYT Games. Puzzle editors on their word-choice criteria: www.nytimes.com/2026/08/05/i... h/t @grantbarrett.com #puzzles
nytimes.com
Why You Sometimes See Naughty Words in NYT Games (Gift Article)
Puzzle editors choose solutions based on curated references and human judgment. But there’s more freedom in the guesses players can make.
021
Reposted by Strong Language
pauline kael bot @paulinekaelbot.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
I've been referred to in print as a "cunt" by people I'd praised. The first time was by John Huston. We'd been friends and I'd defended him for years. But I wrote that NIGHT OF THE IGUANA was a lousy movie. So he called me a "cunt" to an interviewer. (1989)
0234
Strong Language @stronglang.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
FTA: @mashedradish.bsky.social find a connection between bunnies and pussies stronglang.wordpress.com/2016/03/26/g...
stronglang.wordpress.com
Going down the coney hole
Easter: It’s a fuckable feast. For its Christian observers, of course, Easter marks the salvific resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. A cornerstone of the faith, the holiday teems with symbo…
001
Reposted by Strong Language
Anne @anneb.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Looking in the card section and this font seems a bit off.
6688147988
Reposted by Strong Language
Spoonbill Reducks @spoonbill.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
And here's another! I'm 100% sure of it!
Dirty Iveco truck, with the letters MASS and CK written into the dirt to either side of the word IVECO.
1406
Reposted by Strong Language
Paul Duane 🥔 @paulduane.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
not gonna get too excited until I check the provenance but I think I found a banksy
A filthy old council bin where the word "LITTER" has been graffiti'd to CLITTERUS
1048779
Reposted by Strong Language
NikkiJay is making Shards Of A God @nikkijay.games · 05/08/2026
Someone stole my toilet! I suspect this guy
Football reporter "Nick Mashiter"
412228
Reposted by Strong Language
The Cleric @thecleric.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Sometimes when doing genealogy research you stumble upon stuff that leaves you speechless.
A gravestone marked as follows with a picture of a semi truck above it and a small black dog to the left of it.

SPEARS
LEONARD

MAY 2, 1943 KAZABAZUA, QUEBEC
MAY 3, 2013 OTTAWA, ONTARIO

BORN ON A MOUNTAIN RAISED IN A CAVE, TRUCKIN' AND F___IN'S ALL HE CRAVED
85494992
Reposted by Strong Language
Angry People in Local Newspapers @apiln.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
“Have you checked the copy for the Enterprise display ad?” “Didn’t need to, it’s the same every week” [one day later] “Oh”
Display ad for Enterprise car rentals, offering cock-sucking because someone was having bants in the production system.
38673204
Reposted by Strong Language
John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 25/07/2026
In my considered opinion, so much created slang/cursing comes across as cringe precisely because it doesn't sound like anything anyone would ever have coming out of their mouth, this especially true of adding/changing letters in "fuck"
12984244
Strong Language @stronglang.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
FTA: @fritinancy.bsky.social talks about the ins and outs of being a pussy stronglang.wordpress.com/2016/03/24/a...
stronglang.wordpress.com
“A feline profanity”: Part 1
Pity the poor media-standards editor in this sweary era. One can only imagine, for example, the wringing of hands and gnawing of blue pencils last month when, at a mass rally, the short-fingered vu…
101
Reposted by Strong Language
Catherynne M. Valente @catvalente.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
At this point, JK Rowling has spent more time and energy writing about how much she hates a vulnerable part of the human condition that never did one goddamned fucking thing to harm her than she ever did writing Harry Potter.
482103375
Strong Language @stronglang.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
FTA: They don't swear the same everywhere. @stancarey.bsky.social used Jack Grieve's Word Mapper to map the popularity of many cuss words across the US stronglang.wordpress.com/2016/03/22/s...
stronglang.wordpress.com
Sweary maps 2: Swear harder
You may remember Jack Grieve’s swear maps of the USA. Now he has a nifty new web app called Word Mapper that lets anyone with an internet connection make use of the raw data behind those maps. Bein…
0124
Strong Language @stronglang.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Let's make this happen!
062
Reposted by Strong Language
Tyler, from the Internet @tylerfromtheinternet.com · 11/07/2026
I'm here you fuckaas bitch
a picture of a men's wearhouse but the word men has gone out in the lit lettered sign, so it looks like it just says sWearhouse
343625669
Reposted by Strong Language
===dan @ddaann.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
@stronglang.bsky.social bsky.app/profile/tyle...
011
Reposted by Strong Language
Jonathan Edward Durham @thisone0verhere.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Would love a reverse swear jar situation where I put a dollar in and it gives me a new and exciting expletive to use
1942084
Reposted by Strong Language
Bill Smiley @neokefka99.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Mel Brooks is a greater piece of American heritage than the Confederacy.
13560869
Reposted by Strong Language
BMcG @bootsmcgoot.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
the com in .com is short for company. i trust you will correct your pronunciation
1428
Reposted by Strong Language
Eric Umansky @ericumansky.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
An Oklahoma farmer was arrested & cuffed for speaking a few seconds too long at a public forum on a data center. @404media.co has the footage "You need to leave” -officer “I’m done with the mic” -farmer "Right now" “On what grounds?" “Arrest him" - cop www.404media.co/bodycam-foot...
404media.co
Bodycam Shows Moment Cops Arrested a Man for Speaking Too Long at Data Center Meeting
We spoke to Darren Blanchard, the man arrested while speaking out against data centers at a community meeting. He's sharing the bodycam footage of his arrest for the first time with 404 Media.
55935
Reposted by Strong Language
Mary Teresa @maryteresa.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Gary Larson for the win ~
0667
Reposted by Strong Language
Hwæt! @hwaet.info · 23/06/2026
"Fucken A!" Wolf-boy versus Grinder (the Bow Valley Beowulf), 2026 James Harbeck 🇨🇦
074
Reposted by Strong Language
Ray Newman @raynewman.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Lots of echoes of my experience in this. But please don't make me read the phrase "sperm sisters" ever again. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Sisters who share same sperm donor dad meet for first time
Natasha, Gemma and Helen say finding each other has been a "fairy tale".
1192
Reposted by Strong Language
dawn of the debb @debbshock.blue · 17/06/2026
the older I get, the fucker the no
627586
Reposted by Strong Language
Nancy Friedman @fritinancy.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Cover story, @harpers.bsky.social, July 2026.
Headline in Harper's magazine:

HAPPY FUCKING BIRTHDAY 

Subhed:

An exhausted America turns two hundred and fifty
1162
Reposted by Strong Language
Scott Bryan @scottygb.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
BBC: “So what advice did David Hockney give to you?” BBC Guest: “Fuck everyone.”
371457459