h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The difference in severity of certain swearwords geographically astounds me. For example, where I come from in the North of England, a four letter word beginning with C and ending in T is severely frowned upon. The same word however seems to be used freely in the other parts of the country particularly the south east.

In Europe generaly there is an interesting difference how people swear. In Northen countries (Norway, Sweden, Denmark)swearing tends to be relegous. In sentral countries (i.e. Germany) they have a tendency to use words of excretion and in southern counties the use of sexual terms are popular.

Lots and lots of swearing goes on in the British armed forces, as you miht expect, but there's one curious exception which authors such as Terry Pratchett have noted and commented on. Even here it isn't a universal rule, but the amount of profanity in a Welsh regiment seems to be significantly lower than anywhere else in the forces. (Then again, only a Welsh regiment would sing a hymn on the march with the padre nowhere in sight. They'd alternate some of the more typical songs, mark you, like the one that goes to the tune of "Clementine" and which you still hear on the terraces at Wrexham Town games, but the point is, they'd willinmgly and unforcedly also sing hymns)

Pratchett - and others - have identified the Welsh NCO, a sergeant or sergeant-major, who never, ever, swears once, not even when under serious provocation. I can testify from personal experience that they exist (although they're not universal).

This is in all probability confined only to people native to Wales: previous defence cuts and amalgamations incorporated ex-regiments such as the London Welsh and the Liverpool Welsh into the bigger regiment, where scousers and cockneys with names like Evans, Hughes, Williams, Parry, et c, were segregated into companies preserving those old regimental identities. And THEY swore and cussed. (but tended to feel guilty about it)

But take Windsor Davies' portrayal of a Welsh sergeant-major on TV: spot-on accurate, right down to the near-absence of cuss-words.

I can only put this reticence on the part of Welsh soldiers down to the unspoken religious influence - even if they've never been to chapel in their lives, it's still there - and because anyone with a Welsh mam will know that you do not swear, it's built in from earliest infancy....

The welsh language has its battery of swear words, btw, and they tend to be an equal mix of the sacred and the scatalogical!