Among our cousins the French, “pute” and its derivative “puisse” have become catch-all terms, the second less often designating an attack on the person. The term, which appeared during the Middle Ages, has crossed the centuries with such great success that it is used today in all sauces. It even allows to express emotions at the antipodes of each other, like disappointment or exaltation: “oh damn, it’s beautiful!” and “What an imbecile, damn!” In a book that is both funny and sharp, simply titled Whorethe specialist in the history of the French language Dominique Lagorgette also points out that there are very few words in the language of Molière that can be pronounced by practically everyone and in almost all circumstances.
The professor of language sciences at the University of Chambéry — an institution that hosts the only research laboratory in Europe devoted to insults — thus enjoys dissecting the use of this polysemic linguistic vulgarity that refers to sex workers and that the author describes as a real “Swiss army knife”. Its astonishing persistence crisscrosses the ages, leaving a lasting impression on the collective unconscious. And then, we learn with amazement that the insult “whore” and the animal “skunk” share a common etymological origin, from Latin putiduswhich means “dirty.” From physical dirt to moral dirt, there is only one step.
The table is set for a frankly captivating work that reads like a caustic linguistic exploration of cultural representations of women through a slew of sometimes flowery expressions and related synonyms. There are said to be more than 600 of them in the French language alone, ranging from tapin to salope, via ribaude, grâce, cocotte or bitch. They all tell in their own way about misogyny and stigmatization, but also taboos and changes in mentalities.
Even though the author, also an honorary member of the Institut universitaire de France, precisely tracks the meanings and significations of the constantly evolving word, she recalls its brutal and pejorative scope. Of course, the words of a language change and transform, but the fact remains that their intrinsic characteristic remains. “Of course, the view on morals has changed a lot over time, but let’s not forget that gender violence is alive and well,” she maintains.
Because the word “whore” and its cohort of synonyms are used as many “verbal burns” against all women. Beyond the woman of ill repute, as we used to say, there is a gendered term accusing them of all evils and all repulsions. The “whore” is the person who betrays or the one in whom the man cannot trust. The essayist mentions that the French language devalues women in an almost systematic way. For example, it is not uncommon to see that a term without a masculine connotation suddenly takes on a degrading or sexual connotation in the feminine. In this regard, the author quotes the lyrics of the music group Fatal Bazooka: “A guy is a young guy and a bitch is a whore / A runner is a jogger and a runner is a whore.” Everything is said.