Description

This small, rare leaflet was printed in 1944 by the Croatian Catholic church, to stop individuals from cursing.

The Croatian language, as most of the Slavic and Balkan languages can involve a non-translatable juicy selection of cursing in a daily, causal conversation. Most of the curses would involve God, members of the family, especially mothers or sisters, and animals, such as dogs and horses, involved in various kinds of activities, as well as male and female reproductive organs.

The government of the Independent State of Croatia made cursing illegal, in order to elevate the Croatian from other vulgar Balkan languages and to protect God’s name and reputation of family members. The government noticed the “balkanization” or the “Serbian influence” on the Croatian language especially between the younger people. The cursing was punished with 30 days in prison and the repetitive cursing would be punished with 2 months in jail. The inhabitants were encouraged to denounce all the offenders and the laws against cursing were read in churches after the service.

References: Maja Vonić , Perica Vujić, Jezična je politika u NDH, file:///C:/Users/dspah/AppData/Local/Packages/Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe/TempState/Downloads/Essehist_1_2009_46_51%20(3).pdf.