Talk:imprecative

English

In If only it weren't so cold the mood is called imprecative (wishing for something not to occur). The term is also, incidentally, applied to any sentence containing a swear word. https://www.eltconcourse.com/training/inservice/functions/suasion.html#1 JMGN (talk) 10:33, 13 August 2023 (UTC)

replies

The person may have over-extended the meaning of the word curse to include obscenities. i dont think that e.g. I need to piss! would be considered part of the imprecative mood by any reasonable analysis. —Soap— 19:55, 13 August 2023 (UTC)

okay I think I understand what you said now. i need to piss isnt an imprecative *mood*, but the word piss is an imprecative *word* just because "imprecative" has indeed broadened to include obscenities. —Soap— 20:30, 13 August 2023 (UTC)

Imprecative retorts as described by Wikipedia seem to have a strict formula of [imprecative phrase] + [pronoun] + [auxiliary verb]. The word seems to be linguistics jargon, perhaps recently coined, as it's not in most other dictionaries. I will try to add a 2nd sense to our entry for imprecative as an adjective but I want to get it exactly right instead of just guessing based on the snippets I can see of grammar books on Google. Thanks, —Soap— 20:40, 13 August 2023 (UTC)