penfield | The Curse of the [Expletive] Blogger

"The foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing is a vice so mean and low that every person of sense and character detests and despises it."
- George Washington

Enchanted Grammar Tip:

Did you know that the term "expletive" literally means "a word or phrase that is not necessary for a statement to make sense but is used merely to fill out a sentence or metrical line?" I sense that a lot of people think "expletive" is a synonym for "curse word," because we've all seen the bracketed notation "[expletive deleted]" in cases where printing a swear word was either illicit or uncouth.

So, an expletive can be a curse word,

(Example: "Please pass the f#&$ing mashed potatoes.")

And an expletive can be a non-curse word,

(Example: "Sweetheart, why won't you pass me the stinkin' potatoes?")

And a curse word can be a non-expletive.

(Example: "I don't pass potatoes to @ssh*les.")