How does a round work?

An old curse, oath, or insult is shown · you pick what it once meant from three to six options. The wrong options are the real meanings of other archaic words in the pool, so the choice is not trivial. After you answer, the game reveals the word's origin and why it once gave offence.

Are these real words?

Yes · every entry is a genuine historical curse, minced oath, or insult that was once in real use. "Zounds" (God's wounds), "fopdoodle" (a trifling fool), and "cuckold" (a man with an unfaithful wife) were all once cutting; most are harmless or comic today.

Are the words in my language?

Yes · each locale uses its own language's historical curses, not a translation of an English list. The French, German, Swedish, Spanish, Italian, and other pools each draw on that language's actual old oaths and insults, because old swearing is rooted in each culture's particular taboos.

Why were these words ever offensive?

Often because of religion · for centuries blasphemy was the great taboo, so oaths that invoked God's body ("zounds", "gadzooks") were shocking and were softened into nonsense to dodge the sin. Other words wounded by accusing someone of foolishness, cowardice, dirtiness, or sexual dishonour · charges that carried real weight in their day.

No · that's the joke. The words are chosen precisely because they have lost their sting. It plays as a history-and-vocabulary game about how offence changes over time, not as actual profanity.

Does it work offline?

Yes. PlayMemorize is a Progressive Web App. Install once and Old Curses works without an internet connection.

Old Curses · हिन्दी

अनुमान लगाएँ कि एक पुरातन शाप या अपमान का क्या अर्थ था, फिर उसका इतिहास जानें · एक शब्द जिसने बहुत पहले हंगामा किया था और अब किसी को अपमानित नहीं करता

Guess what an archaic curse, oath, or insult once meant from multiple choice, then read the history of a word that used to scandalise and now offends no one. JavaScript required.

Enable JavaScript to play.