Something quick and easy this week. I just finished reading George Orwell's "Down & Out in Paris and London" a thoroughly enjoyable account of his time surviving on very little money whilst working in appalling conditions as a "pongleur" in Paris before moving back to London where he lived as a tramp for several weeks. Throughout the book swear words are blanked out or replaced with the French translation, which is not so surprising in a book of it's time. However, late in the London half of the story Orwell expends a whole chapter on the evolution of slang and swearing and the way the power of these words change over time. It amused me that in this one chapter the swear words are printed in full. It's also interesting to discover the origins of words we still use today and also words that Orwell believed were falling into disuse that have since returned to our vocabulary (Bloody, Doss etc). This Top 5 therefore is a list of my favourite "not quite" swear words which I hope might return to fashion. They're also a handy set of expletives to resort to when in front of the kids.
1. Blige
2. Flippin' 'Eck
3. Crikey
4. Golly Gosh
5. Jiminy Cricket
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