Now, Kathryn, you knew that would draw a post from me, didn’t you?

I do think that this fine old English word (first citation 1555: “As rancke bouguers with mankinde, and with beastes, as the Saracenes are…”–OED) has a very minor place in civilized discourse, in spite of the OED’s warning:

“In decent use only as a legal term.” I have actually used it in the pages of National Review — in fact, I feel pretty sure I am the only person ever to have used “buggery” and “bastardy” both in the same sentence in that august periodical (or any other, very likely).

Homosexuals dislike the b-word a lot, though; and while precision in terms is a very fine thing, so is a decent respect for other people’s feelings.

So I think the b-word should be used sparingly, and without malice. I do not, however, favor a total ban, from The Corner or anywhere else.

I have occasionally spotted attempts by activists to ban the word from society completely, on the grounds (as far as I can understand) that it is the homophobic equivalent of the n-word, reinforced by the fact that they almost rhyme. I don’t buy this, though.

In any case, a total ban might do severe harm to our diplomatic relations with Papua New Guinea, where the local lingua franca is Tok Pisin, a pidgin language based on low-class Australian English. Here is a sample of Tok Pisin from a road safety handbook issued by the PNG government:

“Sapos yu kisim bagarap kisim namba bilong narapela draiva, sapos yu ken, kisim naim bilong em na adres tu, na tokim polis longen. Noken paitem em o tok nogut long em.”

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[Translation: “If you have an accident, get the other driver’s number, if possible his name and address and report it to the police. Do not fight him or abuse him.” — from David Crystal’s The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language.]