Moogk, P. (1979). "Thieving Buggers" and "Stupid Sluts": Insults and Popular Culture in New France. The William and Mary Quarterly 36(4), 524-47.
In this article, the author evaluates the emergence of a popular culture of cursing and its impact in the New France. According to the author, the cursing culture in New France originated from the increased interactions with the people from Canada, France, New England, and West Indies. Moogk takes into consideration various instances involving the use of insults, which people would otherwise consider amusing incidents that have little significance. Throughout the article, Moogk demonstrates the consequences of slander during the early years of the modern France. He makes the significance of slander even more vivid by including case studies regarding the small communities that were found within the French colonies in North American regions. Moogk presents the use of slander as having consistent implications thus requiring a closer analysis of the nature and usage of insulting language. In this regard, the article looks at the social circumstances of public insults through presenting various thoroughly researched case studies. Accordingly, it is important to note that the author presents information from more than one hundred court cases conduced in different jurisdictions including in Quebec, Montreal, Louisbourg, and Trois-Rivieres. While considering the social context of insults, the author examines various factors including the place where the altercation arose, the socio-economic status of the perpetrators and victims, as well as how the cursing affects gender. Further, the author compares the cursing culture in the New France with the Canadian and British cursing patterns. He observes that alcohol was a major factor in the contribution of a society ridden with insults. Ultimately, the insults that were directed towards women had something to do with unfaithfulness and chastity such as ‘whore’ and ‘thief’, while those that were directed towards males considered the latter as cheats, cuckolds, or lacking in virility. In conclusion, Moogk observes that the character of the people in New France was similar to that of the early Canadians in that they were conscious of their honor, status, as well as rank and were ready and willing to defend such attributes either through the courts of law or through physical means.
References
Moogk, P. (1979). "Thieving Buggers" and "Stupid Sluts": Insults and Popular Culture in New France. The William and Mary Quarterly 36(4), 524-47.
