Soft words for hard things: rudeness and swearing
Tests: 4 of 12 right · Exam: 2 of 4 right · Kind: ★★ · Understood: 5 of 16 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72
Lesson 39 of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: the lesson in the corpora.
Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: the lesson's questions in the corpora.
Test 1 · ★★ · wrong ✗
Newspaper: "The manager's post-match comments cannot be printed in a family newspaper." What does this suggest?
- 1. He spoke French — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. He praised the players — no support
- 3. He said nothing at all — no support
- 4. He swore a lot — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 2 · ★★ · wrong ✗
TV guide: "Warning: contains strong language from the start." What should a parent expect?
- 1. Swearing — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Long words — ← Mova's choice · score 6
- 3. A foreign language — score 6
- 4. Shouting matches only — no support
Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 2 with score 6, tied with another option at 6 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 16, line 1: «Teachers write reports that parents read, so they choose kind, careful words instead of blunt ones.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same thing acted on «kind careful words» (+2); the same doer «parents» (+1). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 3 · ★★ · right ✓
"Grandad hit his thumb with the hammer and turned the air blue." What happened next?
- 1. He painted the room — no support
- 2. He had a nosebleed — no support
- 3. He swore a lot — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4
- 4. He went cold — no support
Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 3 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 39, line 20: «"Turned the air blue" means swore a lot; it is a British joke.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «swear» (+2); the same thing acted on «lot» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 4 · ★★ · wrong ✗
Mia reckons "pardon my French" means the person is actually speaking French. right?
- 1. Yes, they switched to French — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. No, it means sorry for swearing — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. Yes, it is a French greeting — no support
- 4. No, it means "I'm learning French" — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 5 · ★★ · wrong ✗
"ruddy cat's been at the bin again!" Is the speaker saying the cat is red?
- 1. No, the cat's name is Ruddy — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. No, "ruddy" is a soft swear for "bloody" — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. Yes, the cat has ginger fur all over its back — no support
- 4. Yes, the cat has a red face — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 6 · ★★ · wrong ✗
"he dropped like 3 f-bombs in one sentence lol" What did he do?
- 1. He scored three goals — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. He threw three water bombs — no support
- 3. He fell over three times — no support
- 4. He said the f-word three times — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 7 · ★★ · right ✓
White House tape transcript: "I don't give a [expletive deleted]." What was left out?
- 1. A name — no support
- 2. A secret plan — no support
- 3. A number — no support
- 4. A swear word — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 0
Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 4 with score 0, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 39, line 1: «Newspapers, teachers and polite grown-ups often have to report swearing without repeating it. So they use cover words: "strong language", "colourful language",…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+1). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 8 · ★★ · wrong ✗
A mum, cheerful: "Oh fiddlesticks, I've forgotten the milk." How upset is she?
- 1. Furious and swearing — no support
- 2. Frightened and panicking — no support
- 3. Very sad and crying — ← Mova's choice · score 8
- 4. Only mildly annoyed — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: It took the question to ask what something is like. It chose option 3 with score 8, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 38, line 2: «That is why a mum who drops the shopping may cry "Sugar!" or "Shoot!": she started the rude s-word and swerved into something sweet or something about a gun.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «cry» (+4); the same doer «mum» (+4). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 9 · ★★ · right ✓
An Irish girl laughs, "Feck off, you're joking!" What does she mean?
- 1. She is surprised and doesn't believe it, in fun — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. She wants the other girl to leave forever — no support
- 3. She is asking for help — no support
- 4. She is angry and wants a fight — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 10 · ★★ · wrong ✗
"The neighbours were effing and blinding at each other till midnight." What was going on?
- 1. An eye test — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. A loud argument full of swearing — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. A party with loud music and dancing — no support
- 4. A quiet game of cards — no support
Why: Nothing it remembers matched the question, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 11 · ★★ · wrong ✗
"excuse my language but that bloomin' dog — sorry, that lovely dog — ate my shoe." What does the speaker really feel?
- 1. Annoyed with the dog — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Proud of the dog — ← Mova's choice · score 6
- 3. Scared of the dog — score 6
- 4. Happy about the shoe — score 6
Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 2 with score 6, tied with another option at 6 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 1, line 4: «So the same fact, "he died", can be said kindly, formally, in old-fashioned words or as a joke, and a clever listener hears both what happened and how the spea…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «speaker» (+4); the same action «feel» (+2). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 12 · ★★ · right ✓
Which of these is a phrase for someone else's swearing, not a soft swear word itself?
- 1. Some choice words — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Shucks — no support
- 3. Fiddlesticks — no support
- 4. Bother — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗
Where a published report records "expletive deleted", determine what has been omitted from the record.
- 1. A grammatical error — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. A vulgar or profane word — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. A confidential figure — no support
- 4. A personal name — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 2 · formal language · right ✓
Identify the meaning most accurately conveyed by the warning "contains strong language".
- 1. The material includes swearing — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. The material is delivered at high volume — no support
- 3. The material employs difficult vocabulary — no support
- 4. The material is in a foreign tongue — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗
Ascertain the function of the expression "pardon my French" when appended to an utterance.
- 1. A request for translation — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. An apology for profanity — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. A declaration of nationality — no support
- 4. An apology for a foreign accent — no support
Why: Nothing it remembers matched the question, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 4 · formal language · right ✓
Select the response that is consistent with the established facts concerning the term "a four-letter word".
- 1. It denotes a swear word — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. It denotes an abbreviation — no support
- 3. It denotes a term of affection — no support
- 4. It denotes any word of four letters — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/euphemisms/39-pardon-my-french/