Potty Mouth

Abstract

In earlier chapters we examined the psychology of excretion in its solid, liquid and then gaseous forms. It also has an even more ethereal manifestation. Language itself can be filthy — obscene, profane, taboo, vulgar or otherwise offensive. Some of this language is scatological, referring to elimination and its associated body parts. In this chapter we begin by exploring the psychology of swearing, or ‘potty mouth’, and then turn to a detailed analysis of psychiatric conditions in which it is sometimes taken to extremes. At the close of the chapter we return full circle to solid excrement, examining potty mouth in a more literal and repulsive sense.