An encyclopedia of swearing : the social history of oaths, profanity, foul language, and ethnic slurs in the English-speaking world / Geoffrey Hughes.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 521-522) and index.

Preface -- Introduction -- Abbreviations -- Abjuration -- Aliens -- Alliteration -- Anathema -- Anatomical Insults -- Anglo-Saxon Period -- Anglo-Saxon Terms -- Animal Terms -- Ass/Arse -- Asseveration -- Attestation -- Australia -- Barbarian -- Bastard -- Bawdy -- Beggar -- Berk -- Bible -- Billingsgate -- Bitch -- Blacks -- Blason Populaire -- Blasphemy -- Blast -- Bloody -- Body Language and Gesture -- Bowdler, Dr. Thomas -- Bowdlerization -- Broadcasting -- Bugger -- Bum -- Burns, Robert -- Bywords of Swearing -- Canada -- Caribbean -- Catholics -- Caxton, William -- Censorship -- Charms -- Chaucer, Geoffrey -- "Cherles Termes" -- Children, Swearing in -- Chinese, The -- Christ -- Cinema -- Class and Swearing -- Cleland, John -- Cock -- Collier Controversy -- Comics -- Communism -- Comstockery -- Coolie -- Coon -- Coprolalia -- Copulation -- Cowardice -- Crap -- Crimen Injuria -- Cuckoldry -- Cunt -- Curse and Cursing -- Damn -- Devil, The -- Dickens, Charles -- Dictionaries. Disability and Deformity -- Disease -- Disguise Mechanisms -- Dogs -- Dozens, The -- Drat -- Dunbar, William -- Dysphemisms -- English, The -- Ethnic Insults -- Etymologies -- Euphemisms -- Expletives -- Fabliaux, The -- Fanny -- Farmer, John S. and William E. Henley -- Fart -- Fashion in Swearing -- Feminization of Opprobrious Terms -- Fines and Penalties -- Fishwife -- Flexibility -- Flexner, Stuart Berg -- Flyting -- Folk Etymology -- Formal Oaths -- Formulas in Swearing -- Forswearing -- Foul Language -- Letter" Words -- French, The -- Frig, Frigging -- Fuck -- Gender in Swearing -- Genitalia -- Germans -- Git -- God -- God's Wounds -- Goddam/Goddamn -- Gook -- Goon -- Gorblimey -- Graffiti -- Graves, Robert -- Grose, Captain Francis -- Grundy, Mrs -- Hate Speech -- Heathen, Infidel, and Pagan -- Hell -- Hollywood -- Homosexuals -- Honky -- Hottentot -- Hun -- Impact -- Imprecation -- Incest, See Mother-Fucker -- India, Swearing in Indians, North American -- Innovation. Instability of Swearing Terms -- Irish, The -- Italians -- Japanese, The -- Jesus -- Jews -- Johnson, Dr Samuel -- Jonson, Ben -- Kaffir -- Knave -- Lady Chatterley's Lover -- Larkin, Philip -- Lawsuits -- Literature -- Lord -- Lord Chamberlain -- Loss of Intensity, Weakening, or Verbicide -- Lousy -- Mahomet/Mohammed -- Maledicta -- Malediction -- Mamet, David -- Master of the Revels -- Masturbation -- Medieval Period -- Mencken, H.L. -- Minced Oaths -- Moralization of Status Words -- Motherfucker -- Nicknames -- Nigger -- Non-Jurors -- Obscenity -- Oxford English Dictionary -- Oz Magazine -- Partridge, Eric -- Perjury -- Phonetic Patterns -- Pidgin English -- Piss -- Police -- Political Correctness -- Political Names -- Pom, Pommy -- Popular Culture -- Pornography -- Poverty -- Prat -- Press, The -- Profanity -- Promiscuity -- Prostitutes -- Psychology of Swearing and Foul Language -- Punk -- Pygmalion -- Quakers and Shakers -- Quean and Queen -- Queer -- Rabelais, François -- Rap. Rascal -- Recantation -- Reclamation of Opprobrious Terms -- Red -- Reformation, The -- Register -- Religious Oaths -- Renaissance, The -- Renegade -- Restoration, The -- Rhyme -- Rhyming Slang -- Rhythm -- Riddles -- Roarer -- Rochester, The Earl of Rogue -- Rude Words, Semantic Field of Rufflers -- Saints' Names -- Sambo -- Scatology -- Scold -- Scots -- Semantic Changes and Trends -- Shakespeare, William -- Shaw, George Bernard, See "Pygmalion" -- Shit Words -- "Shock Jocks" -- Shrew -- Slang -- Soldiers Andsailors -- Son of a Bitch -- South Africa -- Spells -- Sports -- Sterne, Laurence -- Stupidity -- Swift, Jonathan -- Syphilis -- Taboo -- Thou -- Treachery -- Turd -- Twain, Mark -- Twat -- Tynan, Kenneth -- "U" and Non-"U" -- Uncle Tom -- Unparliamentary Language -- Victorian Age -- Villain -- Virago -- War -- Webster and His Dictionaries -- Welsh -- Whitehouse, Mrs Mary -- Whore and Whoreson -- Witch -- Wog -- Women, Stereotypes of Women, Swearing in Word-Field of Swearing -- Word Magic -- Word of Honor -- Wretch -- Xenophobia -- Yankee -- Zounds -- Chronology.