Part 1
Images of vile and repugnant things
have been both tactile and ethereal targets of magicians, charlatans,
medics, poets, politicians, gods and myths since the dawn of
communication. Dualistic philosophy conveys that without a concept
of vile things no concept of pleasant things could exist; and so on.
Several years ago a minor cause célèbre took the indie-hipster book
club circuit by storm; well after its initial French language
publication in 1968. The literary work in question is History of
Shit. This treatise was penned by Dominique Laporte. Laporte
dissected, much like the French philosopher and social scientist
before him, Micheal Foucault, the repugnantly profane and molded it
into an erudite reflection on western societal norms. Ever since its
rerelease, the hipster gangs have exercised their esthetic thuggery
on modern culture; giving rise to a whole cottage industry. The sole
intent of the hipster's bully-pulpit has been peddling disconnected
aspects of pop culture. In A Short History of Vomit, I set out to
emulate the esthetic thuggery so brilliantly mapped out by
indie-hipsters.
Detailing an comprehensive etymological
account of vomit would not be short nor would it address the
pervasive fascination with vomit. Another caveat to the reader. This
essay will consider primarily the English language as it pertains to
vomit. There will be references to other cultures and societies but
only in so far as they have influenced the English language or
culture. That might seem contradictory since the origin of the verb
“vomit” is in direct lineage from the Latin verb (e.g. principle
parts) vomeo, vomere, vomitum meaning “to spew forth.” Yet Latin
based words compose nearly 50% of the English lexicon.
The Romans appear to be the first
Western civilization which elevated vomit out of plebeian vulgarity.
To the Romans vomit could be fastened to concepts of envious high
culture. As they did, then vomit became reshaped and was able to
stand alone as a beacon of sophistication. Ancient Roman public
spaces, like amphitheaters and stadiums, were engineered with
passages under the seating allowing for an orderly exit from the
structure. The noun form of the verb vomit, vomitorium, was kept in
reserve to apply to architectural situations involving crowd control.
Modern usage of the word is almost exclusively applied to the
physiological process of violent excretion called emesis.
The synonyms for vomit are as extensive
as they are vivid with particular emphasis on the vernacular. Vomit
is often depicted in more prosaic terms which connote the physics of
expulsion like throw up, upchuck, heave, spew, hurl and retch. There
are also words and phrases which supply a phonetic rhythm to vomiting
such as barf, sell the Buick or ralph. In the sometimes confusing
British cockney rhyming slang, the cherubic animated characters of
Wallace and Gromit are transformed into the “go to” nomenclature
for vomit. Don't be fooled into surmising that these euphemisms for
vomit are examples of modern day colloquialism found on the website
Urban Dictionary. The Elizabethan Era was the period during which the
Great Bard, William Shakespeare, bequeathed the English language with
one of its most popular synonyms for vomit: puke. In As
You Like It, Act II, Scene vii, Jaques says to to Duke
Senior:
"They
have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking
in the nurse's arms."
