Expletive attributive


An expletive attributive is an adjective or adverb that does not contribute to the meaning of a sentence, but is used to intensify its emotional force. Often such words or phrases are regarded as profanity or "bad language", though there are also inoffensive expletive attributives. The word is derived from the Latin verb explere, meaning "to fill", and it was originally introduced into English in the seventeenth century for various kinds of.

Etymology

Expletive comes from the Latin verb explere, meaning "to fill", via expletivus, "filling out". It was introduced into English in the seventeenth century for various kinds of padding—the padding out of a book with peripheral material, the addition of syllables to a line of poetry for metrical purposes, and so forth. Use of expletive for such a meaning is now rare. Rather, expletive is a linguistics term for a meaningless word filling a syntactic vacancy. Outside linguistics, the word is commonly used to refer to "bad language" or profanity. Some linguists use it as shorthand for "expletive attributive".

Usage

There are many attributive adjectives and adverbs in English that function to indicate a speaker's anger, irritation or strong approval without otherwise modifying the meaning of the phrase in which they occur. An example is the word bloody as used in the following sentences:
An expletive attributive is an intensifier. Unlike other adjective or adverb usage, ' or bloody well in these sentences do not modify the meaning of miracle, good meal, or make it happen. The expletive attributives here suggest that the speaker feels strongly about the proposition being expressed. Other vulgar words may also be used in this way:
Words that are never thought of as offensive can be used in similar ways. For example:
The phone line discussed may have been just as good as any other, so would not have been ' in the literal senses of "extremely shoddy", "devoid of hope" or similar. Rather, wretched serves here as a politer equivalent of expletive bloody and the like.

Infixation and interposition

Besides usual positioning for adverbs and attributive adjectives, expletive attributives can be found in unusual positions where others rarely are. Although considered colloquial at best, they are inserted:
Depending on the precise definition, these insertions may be classed as infixation, tmesis, diacope, interposition or unrecognized.