taint

[Damien Hall]

Subscribers to this august, if sometimes irreverent, list can be forgiven for
not being familiar with the British adult comic *Viz*.  *Viz*, which has been
published since 1979, has a wonderful feature called "Roger's Profanisaurus", a
continuously-updated lexicon of swearing (not all British, either).  It has
entries for both *taint* and *barse*, and I quote exactly and in full:

*taint* n.  Niffin's bridge (qv). Because it tain't arse and it tain't fanny.

*barse* n.  The perineum; that little bit between your balls and your arse. Also
biffin bridge, stinkers bridge, chin rest, taint etc.

Neither is marked for region of use.

"Roger's Profanisaurus" is a delight to me:  an example of the endless
productivity of language.  It is updated in every comic (bimonthly) and
apparently available as a book, with occasional updated issues, too.  It is
probably thousands of entries long by now.  For this list's purposes, it is all
available on the comic's website:

http://www.viz.co.uk

<commercial break>  In fact, I recommend Viz to you all as a well-written and
very funny read if you are familiar with British culture.  Those of its comic
strips that are set anywhere specific are usually set in Newcastle, where the
comic is published, and the transcription of the Geordie (=Newcastle) dialect
so that standard-British-English speakers can read it with the corect vowels
are spot-on.  The rest of the comic is done with a great amount of (linguistic
and other) care, and the website too:  for example, Roger's Profanisaurus is
accessed via a Swearch Engine, or, if you just want a random swear-word, you
can click on the Fucky Dip button.  It's just great.  <\commercial break>

Enjoy yourselves!

Damien Hall
University of Pennsylvania