RAVE: @^$%'n Quebecois

There is an excellent article today from the Washington Post's website called In French Speaking Canada, the Sacred is Also Profane about Quebecois swear words. Apparently, when something bad happens, the Quebecois shout their favorite Catholic word, such as "Communion!", "Holy Host!" or "Tabernacle"!

From the article:

"You swear about things that are taboo," André Lapierre, a professor of linguistics at the University of Ottawa. In the United States, "it is not appropriate to talk about sex or scatological subjects, so that is what you use in your curse words. The f-word is a perfect example.

"In Canadian French, you have none of the sexual aspects. So what do you replace it with? You replace it with religion. If you are going to use a taboo word, it would be anything related to the cult, to Christ, the Communion wafer, Jesus Christ, vestments, and elements of the altar like tabernacle. There's quite a few of them."

However, apparently this doesn't carry over to the rest of the Francophone. The article reports that French visitors are surprised at these swear words. Lapierre credits this to the fact that the French have long been away from domination by the Catholic Church.