swearing

In a recently published ranking of Canadian cities, Censuswide found that Quebec's own Saguenay was the second most polite city in the entire country, losing only to Ontario's Markham.

The survey concluded that Cape Breton was third-most polite, with two more Quebecois cities, Lévis and Québec City coming in at fifth and sixth place, respectively.

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Quebec swear words, or in French sacres, are pretty much just words that go against the establishment; adjectives, verbs, and nouns deemed inappropriate by the general population. Or those who govern the general populace. Swear words are meant to stick it to the man, whether that be your parents, the government, or in the case of early Quebec, the Catholic church.

In Quebec's past, the church was running the show. The clergy controlled nearly every aspect of society in 19th century Quebec, which understandably pissed off the Quebec people. Taking words deemed sacred or holy by the Church, Quebecers recreated these untouchable sayings into harsh profanities. If you've ever wondered why Quebec swear words have a religious tinge, now you know it's basically because they wanted to give a linguistic fuck you to the Church.

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