Billingsgate: coarsely abusive language.
From
the time of the Roman occupation until the early 1980s, Billingsgate
was a fish market in London, England, notorious for the crude language
that resounded through its stalls. In fact, the fish merchants of
Billingsgate were so famous for their swearing that their feats of
vulgar language were recorded in British chronicler Raphael Holinshed's
1577 account of King Leir (which was probably Shakespeare's
source for King Lear). In Holinshed's volume, a messenger's language is
said to be "as bad a tongue … as any oyster-wife at Billingsgate hath."
By the middle of the 17th century, "billingsgate" had become a byword
for foul language.
Read more at http://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day/2014/03/09/#IJ4b8j1OlMbm7J4x.99
From
the time of the Roman occupation until the early 1980s, Billingsgate
was a fish market in London, England, notorious for the crude language
that resounded through its stalls. In fact, the fish merchants of
Billingsgate were so famous for their swearing that their feats of
vulgar language were recorded in British chronicler Raphael Holinshed's
1577 account of King Leir (which was probably Shakespeare's source for
King Lear). In Holinshed's volume, a messenger's language is said to be
"as bad a tongue … as any oyster-wife at Billingsgate hath." By the
middle of the 17th century, "billingsgate" had become a byword for foul
language.Read more at http://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day/2014/03/09/#IJ4b8j1OlMbm7J4x.99
From
the time of the Roman occupation until the early 1980s, Billingsgate
was a fish market in London, England, notorious for the crude language
that resounded through its stalls. In fact, the fish merchants of
Billingsgate were so famous for their swearing that their feats of
vulgar language were recorded in British chronicler Raphael Holinshed's
1577 account of King Leir (which was probably Shakespeare's
source for King Lear). In Holinshed's volume, a messenger's language is
said to be "as bad a tongue … as any oyster-wife at Billingsgate hath."
By the middle of the 17th century, "billingsgate" had become a byword
for foul language.
Read more at http://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day/2014/03/09/#IJ4b8j1OlMbm7J4x.99
Read more at http://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day/2014/03/09/#IJ4b8j1OlMbm7J4x.99
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