The Etymology Of Swearing

I like fuck, it's a good swearword because it's got all those harsh consonants. Godverdammer (or however it's spelled in Dutch) is also good because it's so gutteral.

It's the word that just keeps on giving...

PS: Surely "fuck" in Welsh should be "ffuck"?

(Also, remember W is a vowel in Welsh, so ffwch is correct.)

We rarely use long swearwords in Scotland. 'Son-of-a-bitch' and 'motherfucker' have too many syllables, I could fit four decent swearwords into that time :-P

I notice blasphemy is popular on ILX, lots of people use 'Jesus Christ' (occasionally giving him 'fucking' as a middle name) as an expression of surprise/shock. Given the largely secular population of the board I wonder if they do it out of some old habit from a religious unbringing or whether they just like annoying Christians.

My mum takes the piss out of me for it, claiming words to the effect that "glad to see you've rediscovered religion, but one of these days, my boss will answer you!" But it is the hardest one to shake.

But it is habit, as it felt like the filthiest thing to do to rattle the nuns.

Sanitised blasphemies always sound a bit weird to me. Crumbs, crikey, cripes, Gordon Bennet, cor blimey, dang, gosh, jeepers. Also blasphemies invoking dead gods – by Jove, etc. I understand how it can pop out, but it's a bit cute for me.

God's Wounds is a great one

REALLY?!?!? I never knew that. This thread has just taught me one amazing new thing today. I'm glad I started it!

http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxbloody.html

Do dergoratory terms such as bitch, slut, whore, tramp, scrubber, slag, etc. count as swearwords?

Animals tend to be insults, rather than actual swearing... though they can be pretty offensive - see "pig" and "cow" etc.

Also, it's funny that different swearwords can have different effects when applied to different genders. I wouldn't think twice about calling a man a "cunt" but if I called a woman a "cunt" it would be quite a hefty insult.

I suppose what makes swearing etymology so interesting is that it's totally socially conditioned - it underlines how the brain doesn't know by itself what's offensive and what isn't. I have wondered what happens to kids with tourettes who have never heard a swear-word - what do they shout? Do they just start shouting random things out in supermarkets - "CAKE! RUG! TOYOTA!" etc.

I love words that sound like swearwords (codswollop, assbandolier) but technically aren't.

As we've already said, if you take offense, it's a swearword. "You plonker, Rodney!" etc.

Face-fucker to me, just *sounds* better than cock-sucker, apart from the conceptual reversal.

I see where you're coming from on the homophobic thing though, and yes cocksucker would be an American term (viz. I got it from Deadwood). I disagree about how it rolls off the tongue; I think it's rather elegant.

Difficult with swear words to separate them from concepts one does find offensive oneself, such as homophobia or misogyny.

'Cunt' is a great word for it's shock value, but I don't see what's bothersome about female genitals per se. Something I don't understand about swearing; why is 'cunt' any more offensive than 'front-bottom' - you are referring to the same organ?

Of course swearwords are tied up with offensive concepts - that's what makes them swearwords! The actual etymology of swearing - I was going to put "cursing" as it is often used as a synonym but cursing only technically refers to the religious swears. (Probably so does "swear" as in "swear an oath" - in older literature, four-letter words are referred to oaths as well as curses or swears.)

I'm pretty equal opportunity with regards to genitalia insults. To call someone a cunt or a twat (why is cunt viewed as worse than twat when it's the same thing?) is equatable to calling them a prick or a dick or calling "bollocks" on something.

x-post ha ha, no I've read neither, but thanks for the heads up, I'm such a cunting douchebag I've not read either of the sodding things.

Matt, that makes a lot more sense than my original thought that it was something to do with sod = earth = downward = hell, i.e. damning the person.

xpost

My wife's american so I've been having fun explaining all the archaic English curses like Cor Blimey = God Blind Me etc.

I've learned so many things on this thread!

biblical land of would-be angel rapists, you mean

-- The Damp Is Rising (masonicboo...), November 22nd, 2005 4:22 AM. (later)

There you go. When in public use "the whole apparatus".

Anyway, swearing is both big and clever. ...have I mentioned my band?

Some quotes from that book I mentioned:

"Irrumatio ["mouthfucking"] was in general regarded as a hostile and humiliating act, of the sort which one's enemies might wish to inflict on one: see [the graffiti] 'malim me amici fellent quam inimici irrument' ['I'd prefer friends to suck me than enemies to mouthfuck me']. In Catullus 74 the possible irrumatio of the husband is viewed as the ultimate humiliation which might befall him.
[...]
Directed at a man in public, it would be very offensive indeed. Spoken to a female in private, when linguistic taboos need not operate, it might be emptied of its emotive content.
[...]
Like other obscenities, fello [fellate] could, at least in the world of prostitution, be used as a neutral technical term. Various graffiti record praise of female practitioners of the art. [...] The practice was particularly degrading for a man [...], and there is no doubt that fellator directed at a man [...], could be an emotive term of abuse. [It] is found in jokes of the type, 'he who reads this, X'"

So it appears context would be important then as now. Oh and since the thread is about etymology, both terms appear to come from young animals'/babies' sucking at teats.

On another subdiscussion: interestingly, loci/loca was "from early Latin used of the female parts"; it means (yes!) "area". Of course there are plentiful other Latin and Greek alternatives mentioned (metaphorical and otherwise, and dealing with parts of or yes the whole apparatus); taking some licence with the translation I offer some suggestions, ranging from the twee to the weird to the nasty:

Cave
Field
Vessel
Pig*

Ditch
Nymph
Oven
Fig

Nose
Arse
Kidney
Tension

Crest
Wings
Sheath
Passion

(Haha Kate I dare you to use that as a chorus in a song!)

*) apparently used mostly by nurses about small girls

Here are a few good swears in a few good languages:

Arabic

koos — cunt.
koos emek — literally means "your mother's cunt". Used more as the English "fuck you" or "shit!".
sharmuta — whore. In Hebrew, used as slut.
zib — dick.

Dutch

Incidentally, in Holland, there is an 'Association Against Cursing' ('Bond Tegen Het Vloeken'). Swear words in Dutch usually have to do with God, and they encourage translaters to 'correctly' translate bodily-function English swear words to bodily-function Dutch swear words, and not mix up God in it.

eikel — literally means dickhead.
godverdomme — "God damn it."
klootzak — literally means "testicles", but it is used more like "asshole".
kut — cunt/pussy. Also used like the English "shit".
lul — dick.
rukhond — wanker. You can add vuile (vuile rukhond) for dirty wanker.

French

cul — ass.
merde — shit.
nique ta mere — fuck your mother.
putain — whore; not to be confused with poutine , which is delicious in a different way.
va te faire foutre — fuck you or go fuck yourself.

In addition "baiser" as a verb also means "to fuck". "un bitte" is dick and "une pipe" is blowjob. "un pede" (pronounced payday) is derogatory form of homosexual. "C'est chiant" is like saying "that makes me shit". "con" is about equivalent to dumbass or asshole.

German

Ach du lieber Gott — for the love of God.
Arschloch — arsehol.
hurensohn — son of a bitch.
mach es dir selber — go fuck yourself.
mutterficker — motherfucker.
scheisse — shit.
scheisskopf — literally means shithead.
schweinhund — literally means pig-dog.

Hebrew

????? ?????? (pronounced "akhotkha hatzola'at" ) — literally your limping sister. Used a lot (for no reason that I can understand). Most often used in "??? ????? ??????" ( "kus akhotkha hatzola'at" ) — "your limping sister's cunt", which is used more like the English "fuck you".
?? ???? ( "ben zona" ) — literally means son of a bitch.
??? ?? ????? ???? ( "khapes mi yena'ane'a otkha" ) — literally means "find someone to shake you". Used like the English "fuck off".
??? ??? ??? ( "kus ima shelcha" ) — literally means your mother's cunt. It used more like "You asshole".
?? ?????? ( "lech tizdayen" ) — fuck off.
????? ?? ( "timtzotz li" ) — blow me.

Hungarian

lofasz a segedben (pronounced "lofos a shegedbe") — literally horse dick in your ass. This is actually the phrase that got me to write this node. Yes, Hungarians actually have a word for horse dick. It is used more like "fuck off".

Italian

cazzo — dick (or testa di cazzo — dickhead).
fica — cunt.
puttana — whore.
testa di merda — shithead.
tua madre si da per niente — your mother gives it away for free.
vaffanculo — fuck off.

Spanish

mierda — shit.
pendejo — literally means pubic hair. But it is an all purpose swear word, like fuck and shit.
puta — whore.

Yiddish

gayn kakken ofn yam — go shit in the sea.
putz — dickhead.
schmuck — dick.

Amazing. Now we can be truly international swearers. And since we're talking etymology, the word "cunt" alone can give us *cough* hours of pleasure.

Actually pendejo tends to mean "stupid".
You forgot culo (asshole)
and the ever popular cabron (roughly, bastard/dickwad)
and also pinche, which is inserted like "fuckin' " in front of words like cabron
And also chingate (go fuck yourself)

Oh, I don't want anyone to think I came up with the above list on my own. I saw it somewheres on the Interwebs and copied it and this thread made me dig it out.

http://www.wprb.com/about/60s.html

You know how sometimes you doubt your own recollections, when something is just too good to be true? I have a memory like that of WPRB. About twenty-five odd years ago I witnessed one of the watershed events of this century in the studios in the basement of Holder Hall. Only after careful reflection have I decided that it did indeed happen as I remember it and that I'm not just imagining things. I was, however, convinced when I realized that something in such utter bad taste could have only happened at WPRB. You see, I was present at the very first utterance of the greatest expletive of the 20th century: 'Fucking A.'

It happened sometime in 1961, maybe 1962, but no later than that I am sure. I defy anyone to find an earlier use of that lyrical profanity (don't confuse the phrase with 'A-okay' made so popular by the astronauts). Of course, since then the phrase has captivated the English-speaking world, being of particular attraction to those serving in the military. No doubt the prevalence of war in the national conscience and consciousness since then has accounted for the rapid dissemination of the phrase. It wasn't long before the phrase rivaled and then surpassed other gems, like 'snafu' and 'bubkus.' You have to admit that 'Fucking A' flows so easily off the tongue. It has the natural flavor of apple pie to it. It's difficult to appreciate it for what it is...a truly seminal expression, the ultimate primal scream, the shadow of humanity's deepest frustrations leaping off the wall of Plato's cave into the concrete world.

It was all due to Studio A. In those days, everything at WPRB was broadcast out of Studio B, an intimate glassed-in box only large enough to hold a DJ and a few sycophants. Studio A was larger, but its console never worked. If it weren't for the fact that the large conference table in Studio A was a perfect place to set down those big boxes that pizza come in (even then!), Studio A would have been of no use whatsoever.

Two members of the engineering staff, Minet and Auslander, decided to change this, though I'm not sure why. They espoused the Che Guevara school of electronics. Their modus operandi was to plug in anything on the fritz and hope that it exploded, because the sparks would pinpoint the problem. (They applied this principle to my roommate's malfunctioning stereo and in 30 minutes transformed it into scrap metal.) That's why the console in Studio A was so fascinating to them. It exploded with the persistence of a Mexican fiesta, which may have explained their predilection for working at it late at night with a case of cheap beer at hand.

During one of these late night escapades, Minet was on his back under the console monkeying with some wires, while Auslander was standing up, hovering over the monster with his eyeglasses way down on the tip of his pimply nose, hoping to see the damn thing pop. I could see them through the window out of Studio B while I was on the air. I'm not sure exactly what happened next. Whatever it was, t he lights flickered momentarily and Minet screamed 'FUCKING A!!!' so loudly that even with my earphones on I could hear him. And he continued yelling the words over and over, while he hopped around holding his right hand. So, when Auslander, who now was totally cracking up over his buddy's misfortune, pushed open the door to Studio B to share the merriment with me, those fateful words went out ever so clearly over the air, making my engineer blanch. And, as Minet continued to yell and Auslander continued to prop open the studio door with his doubled-over body, those words continued to go out over the air, until the engineer came to his senses and flipped the switch. Of course, we never heard a word of complaint, proving that no one, not even the FCC, was listening.

I don't think Minet, after his pain subsided, ever used the words again. But Auslander did, all the time, and so did everybody else, me included. Soon, it was all over campus. From there, it conquered the nation. Tomorrow, the world, as they say.

Of course, nobody knew what the 'A' was, except for the few of us there that night. But it didn't matter what 'A' was. It really had nothing to do with any 'A' in particular. The phrase lassoed the Zeitgeist; 'A' really stood for everything so maddening and so frustrating that it couldn't be put into words. What happened to Minet that day was just a happy accident, something like Newton and the apple. I mean, if he had yelled 'Fucking B,' who would have noticed? Auslander probably would have given a little chuckle and that would have been it.

Loci/Loca, ha ha - even the Romans used "area" - I will have to tell AMP that. And if you can come up with that list in the original Latin, then I will indeed use it in a song. Tee hee.

I can remember a long, stoned conversation with a bandmate in my early 20s, about how things ended up as swearwords/insults. And we went through everything going, "well, actually, you can't call someone a cunt, because cunts are great. Ditto dicks, they're good, too. And shit... well, without shit, we'd all die and the planet would not regenerate itself..." and so on until we decided that the only good insults were "cancer" and "nuclear waste".

kut — cunt/pussy. Also used like the English "shit".
I really like the sound of kutwijf. Which literally translates into cunt-woman. (You can hear the word wife in wijf.)

rukhond — wanker. You can add vuile (vuile rukhond) for dirty wanker.
I rarely if ever hear this here. Wank-dog? Strange. I think it's more something for the Netherlands.

I don't know, I find it easier to use Dutch/Flemish swearwords than English ones. Somehow I'm more aware of what it refers to in English than in Dutch. Really strange.

Translation doesn't do it justice of course. For one thing, about five different synonyms of "devil" are used. "Faen/fan" and "jævlig" are probably the most used swear words in all parts of Norway, occupying a role similar to "fuck" and "fucking" in English swearing, and in the following feeble attempt has been occasionally translated as such. The rest is more literally translated (excerpt of the first couple of minutes or so):

"I fucking don't have pinces going over this either, sinking hell, accursed devilry, hell satan, hell devilshit, accursed hell it's the devil this (...) fuck how am I supposed to get this tube on, so down into the Old Nick in red hell, it's as fuck, accursed devilry, satan and hell and devil-Ola, accursed, satan in hell (...) frying devil and satan and hell and that manshit there too (...)"
[Wife turns up and, while trying to suppress laughter, asks if he needs help]
"You can go to hell both you and this fucking shit here, I can by the frying devil tell you, this is the last, absolutely last time I've been inside this satan going on, you can curse yourself on that, you're just a cunt and so sloppy with this, so down-in-hell, that's what you are. You're so sloppy with this so down-in-the-devil, you're not fucking worth having a washing machine, you should have a fucking washboard!"

OK, that was more about intensity than invention. Here, on the other hand (without sound file alas) is a guy recorded on a IT support answering machine after waiting for some time:

"Now I'm pissed I tell you. Fuck, what accursed shit. Who the hell invented this here satan's work of crap? It's not devil-fry-in-hell on to dick about with this for weeks. One fucking has other things to do than cunt about with this satan's mouse bastard. Could you in the innermost greenshoed devilass tell me what's the point with some scrap iron standing there yelling and howling with a lot of fucking noises and blinking and flapping outa fuck, and passwords and wires and buttons spilling out like the devil everywhere!

I should just get hold of one of you, you fucking cocklasts of support-quackquacks, and the devil sink me I'd have buggered you to where you belong, satan's outturned cunts of horsecocks. Don't fucking come here and foist manshit on people, and tell people what button to push, you satan's pikecock.

If it was up to me, you should have been out on the Arctic Ocean wanking seal dick, accursed Southern satans, then you could sit there configuring yourself so out of hell far up your ass you'd have to shit through your ears next time you needed a shit, and when you were done with that, I'd personally come and format your faces, and install my shank up in your ballsack so you'd piss red serial numbers!

If there was still life in you after this, I'd plug and plow you so out of hell far into the biggest asshole I've found, and then you would stink manshit until you died. The devil fry innermost into the hottest burntout hell, by satan, let me get hold of at least one of you. I've deleted the head off haddock bastards before. I'll shove all of that accursed shit into the box and return it -- I fucking don't want it. Then by hell you can sit there and wank alone in that hellish phone of yours."

And finally a sentence from a reader's letter in a Northern Norwegian local paper, directed at an opponent in a discussion: "Would you please pick up some speed and bike horizontally into hell?"

cazzo — dick (or testa di cazzo — dickhead).
fica — cunt.
puttana — whore.
testa di merda — shithead.
tua madre si da per niente — your mother gives it away for free.
vaffanculo — fuck off.

'Cazzo' means 'dick', but is used more like 'fuck/fucking', e.g. "Che cazzo fai?" = "What the fuck are you doing?". 'Fica' is slang for vagina, but I don't think it's used as an insult to a person, not like 'cunt' is in English. 'Stronzo' (='turd') is the worst insult you would normally call anyone.

Mainly in the North, mind. I'm guessing things are similar in Finland -- Tuomas? :)

I don't think I've ever heard it!

Loose translated it would be whore. More son of a bitch, I guess. Or son of a cunt. I like the sound of it somehow but would never use it. No, I'm not a prude. :-)

I mean, who isn't a son of a cunt? Unless, of course, you were delivered by Caesarian Section, but still. Kutjong, son of a cunt. I love it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TH_dKfBI40

is that a lesson for world cup referees?

I love words that sound like swearwords (codswollop, assbandolier) but technically aren't.

"assbandolier"
4 results (0.25 seconds)

I've always kinda wondered about the cultural roots of "insulting the other person's mom" type of swearing. It seems to be quite prominent in Mediterranean countríes, but it's practically non-existent in Finland, and AFAIK in other Nordic countries too. I wonder if this has something to do with the difference between Catholic and Protestant countries, or if it's a more general question of how important family is in a particular society.

I had forgotten about this thread. Awesome.

Mammys are very important in irish culture, but we don't have a big tradition of you momma Tuomas.

Is it more of a latin thing?

Maybe, yeah. Though I think "your mama" insults are kinda common in the US too...? Anyway, even if it's a "Latin" thing, I wonder what are roots of it? I guess mothers are held in higher esteem in Latin countries than in Northern Europe, for example...

Tuomas, your mother is held in high esteem by many, mainly me.

I've always kinda wondered about the cultural roots of "insulting the other person's mom" type of swearing. It seems to be quite prominent in Mediterranean countríes, but it's practically non-existent in Finland, and AFAIK in other Nordic countries too. I wonder if this has something to do with the difference between Catholic and Protestant countries, or if it's a more general question of how important family is in a particular society.

Aye, yer maw wonders

^West of Scotland example

"fuck your mother" is a pretty common swear in Chinese

thought "yo mamma" derived from the african-american tradition of the dozens

Are you this Curtis?

http://www.joshreads.com/images/09/08/i090822curtis.jpg

lol @ that Curtis strip. it is like the quintessential Curtis strip.

thought "yo mamma" derived from the african-american tradition of the dozens

In the US, maybe, but like I said a culture of mother-insulting exists in many other places too, such as the Mediterranean countries. And obviously they don't derive it from the dozens.

the russian word for swearing, - mat -, is derived from the word for mother, - mat'- (with a palatalised 't')

"assbandolier"
4 results (0.25 seconds)

I got 7 results, at least 5 of which are MB. Surely if it's made up and contains the component 'ass' it is in fact a swear word, albeit a neologistic swear word?

gism!

Please stop googling assbandolier. This is really freaking me out a bit.

What does that word even mean?

Oh, sorry. I wanted to know what it was, and as it was paired with codswallop, which is a pre-existing phrase, I didn't realise it was exclusive to you. I didn't mean to net stalk you!

xpost

When will there be an assband for the world?

It doesn't mean anything. That's the point. It was a word that ver L011i3$ made up while on tour after I got in trouble for swearing on live radio. So we all started using "assbandolier" as our default swearword so we wouldn't get in trouble if we used it in interviews.

Oh, sorry. I wanted to know what it was, and as it was paired with codswallop, which is a pre-existing phrase, I didn't realise it was exclusive to you. I didn't mean to net stalk you!

xpost

― emil.y, Wednesday, June 16, 2010 7:51 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

yeah this was my initial reaction too, hence the googling. sorry if it offended you.

I could have sworn we had a whole thread where we debated the swear 'cunt' and whether it was Literally The Worst Insult Ever, or whether it was a fairly casual insult, to the point where it could even be used affectionately, as in 'ya wee daft cunt' being something you could say to a friend or family member without the slightest offense being taken?

But I can't find it, so I'm reviving this one.

IIRC, in the early days of ILX, when ILX was mostly British, there was a real North / South divide on whether the word 'cunt' was totally unacceptable or not (or, indeed, if it was worse when applied to a woman than a man, making it a gendered insult, and therefore not OK on grounds of misogyny) - to the point where we just adopted our own ILX swear of Cockfarmer! to resolve the issue, where it was completley fine to call people cockfarmers when disagreeing with them, since cockfarmer sounded appropriately rude but was actually about poultry. (Weirdly, DG's google result shows that 'cockfarmer' has shifted, and is becoming analagous to 'slut' which is a gendered term of abuse and therefore misogynist and bad.)

I think this issue of calling people cunts and whether that's a perfectly calm, reasonable thing to do in a disagreement, or whether it's a sign of completely unacceptable argumental-heatedness has been coming up more and more often as different parts of ILX rub against one another.

Like, to Glaswegians and Geordies (who happen to be the people most often called out on cunt-calling) - the term 'cunt' is seen as no more offensive than the word 'hoser' would be to a Canadian? Yet South Britos, Americans and Canadians are reacting as if this were a horrendous and horrible breach of politeness. (Which it is, in those cultures.) I think this is at the heart of Calzino's and Tombot's contretemps yesterday?

Can we maybe have a discussion and reach an agreement about this? Because I don't want to see otherwise amenable posters get banhammered again over a cultural difference.

isn't there an alternate Scots /N.Eng root meaning "know-it-all"? ken, canny etc?
also surprised most etymological rooting around "bloody" ignores the German "blöde" (stupid). It even collocates the same

Thread in question moved on to the usual toxic mix of 'the racism of Islamophobia doesn't count if we ban ALL religions' and weaponised misogynoir dressed up as 'anti-misogyny' so I'd feel kinda weird now bringing the subject back to something so comparatively innocent as swearing.

North Briton Cunt as being derived from ken/canny/cant is an interesting idea. Will have to go digging for supporting etymologies. But that would support why it is seen as so less taboo a word, if it imples 'smart-arse' rather than genitals.

Also good call on blöde, I had not thought of that one. Ha! When I used to shout at the stupid, bloody television my Mum used to always tell me off, saying "there is no blood on the television" but the television certainly was stupid.

also surprised most etymological rooting around "bloody" ignores the German "blöde" (stupid)

The modern English cognate of German's "blöd" is "bloat" as in something useless, wasteful. Most of the earliest attested uses of "bloody" as an intensifier don't really imply stupidity. Funnily enough, in (American) English today you can use "stupid" as an intensifier. It's very marked, but it's definitely used that way, i.e. that song is stupid good, it's stupid hot outside, etc.

the "cunt" used in northern England and Scotland is - etymologically - the same as anywhere else with it being used in its modern meaning in Middle English (and Middle Scots, its in the Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedie which is from around 1500).

cunt is not "not offensive" in Scotland. it is non-offensive for certain speakers of basilectal Scottish dialects, e.g. Glaswegian. it has an additional meaning for sure - it is a non-gendered placeholder to refer to a person whose identity is not pertinent to a statement's content, e.g. "some cunt told me the weather forecast was for rain this afternoon", is used in place of "one" in the terms "someone", "anyone", "everyone", and it is a non-gendered equivalent for "person" or "individual", e.g. "he's a funny cunt" is a complimentary statement. I would argue that in this context and usage cunt is definitely not an offensive word.

it's also used as an insult, as elsewhere, but can range from mild to severe depending on tone, context. I have told friends to "fuck off, ya cunt" thousands of times. it's also a gendered insult, there's no denying that a man calling a woman a cunt in a specific tone or context holds the same meaning in Scotland as it does elsewhere. the fact that cunt can also be used as one of the harshest insults for a man probably shouldn't be ignored if one ponders whether or not the use of cunt is misogynistic and I'm not sure I care to defend this use of cunt.

I do use cunt on here. I've called gabbneb a cunt for instance. probably because I started posting here when I lived in Glasgow and was in my early 20s. I've lived in Vancouver 8 years now and almost never say cunt anymore, I use it in conversation with my wife and my ex-wife on occasion but that's about it. I feel like maybe I shouldn't use it on here anymore for the same reason I don't use it irl, the majority of people who I'm communicating with do not have the same relationship with the word and will necessarily take a separate meaning from it than that which is intended.