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The Long Linguistic Journey to 'Dagnabbit' - Atlas Obscura

Fri, 05 Dec 2025 18:43:38 +0000

“Taboo deformation is one possible way for a word to change its meaning,” says Andrew Byrd, a professor of linguistics at the University of Kentucky who specializes in Indo-European languages. Basically, we are scared of the true names of certain beings or concepts, because to use them might mean we summon them, which we don’t want, or anger them, which we definitely don’t want, or simply make other humans mad at us, which is slightly less bad but still not ideal. The true name is powerful, and we normal humans can’t handle that power. So we avoid using the true name, but sometimes we still need to communicate with each other about those beings or concepts. That means we have to figure out a way to talk about something without using the actual word for it.

Tags: #folklore #language #magic #mythology

Bad Luck Superstitions

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 18:48:33 +0000

"Warning... This web page may change your life for the better or for the worse."

Tags: #folklore #superstitions

drewspeak - like newspeak, but free » Blog Archive » The Internet Troll As The Trickster Archetype

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 18:05:58 +0000

"There are troublemakers in all sorts of settings, in all sorts of mythologies - a troll can be equated to Loki or Anansi just as easily as they could a vitriolic bigot. Who knows? All I understand is that the Internet troll exists by the grace of those w

Tags: #folklore #internet #metablogging #mythology #tricksters

Disturbingly rich and deep folklore among Miami's streetkids

Wed, 12 Nov 2003 13:12:33 +0000

Tags: #folklore #mythology