This is kind of interesting – we’ve blogged about the background before – the Quebecois habit of using the names of religious articles as swear words. Now, the Archdiocese of Montreal is using that habit to make a point:
Montreal’s Catholic churches are trying to take back the tabernacle and the chalice, reminding Quebecers that the common French-language cuss words are still sacred objects to the church.
The churches launched a cheeky publicity campaign on the weekend to teach the true meaning of words that roll so easily off the tongues of many francophones when they stub a toe or strike a thumb with a hammer.
Several Montreal churches were festooned with gigantic black posters with the names of religious objects in blood-red letters and the true definition in smaller white type.
"Tabernacle!" shouted one example. "Small cupboard locked by key in the middle of the altar containing the ciborium."
Another explained that "ciboire" (ciborium, in English) is a container that holds the "hostie" (hosts) for communion.
Both words, along with "calisse" (chalice), "sacristie" (sacristy) and "sacrement" (sacrament) have also become curses in Quebec’s version of the French language. Among others.
Why Canadian francophones do is something of a mystery. There might be other ethnic groups who swear by abusing the names of cultic objects – tabernacles, ciboriums and chalices – but we can’t think of any. One old saw suggests that people express anger and disappointment by profaning what they most fear – which is why francophones chose religion and anglophones picked sex. Or perhaps they turn to what they revere most. Then again, maybe linguist Monique Carmel is right when she says the words were used simply to express rebellion in the days when the church had more temporal power than it does now
It’s apparently part of their Archdiocesan fundraising appeal. I can’t find any images on the Archdiocesan website…although the name of the fellow in charge of the annual collection certainly caught my eye!
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