Words

Hey D, didn't think you would be gone this long.

What is in a word eh? Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never ...

 

I've found PC to have a Laissez-faire approach to moderating, so now I wonder what the offending word was... just to see if I know it!

Personally I try not to expend energy disputing outrageous statements made by others: (a) because I'm not very good at it so it's no fun for me, and (b) because I know the likelihood of changing their mind is exactly the same as their ability to change mine: Exactly nil. Instead, I take comfort in the knowledge that they are wrong, and that I am right. Although I do sometimes enjoy a vicarious thrill watching others engage.

Words are powerful when manipulated by a master. You are a master wordsmith. I am glad you have returned from exile. I hope you stay awhile, because I think you're a lot of fun & I enjoy watching how your mind works.

Word!

 

Technically, this isn't completely correct. You CAN call something male bovine excrement, you just can't say so in one word. Also, you can call somebody (as long as that somebody is In The Public, eg a politician or actor and not a board member) someone who has sex with their female parent, but again you just can't say so in one word.

 

sounds like copulation pee pee to me

 

hey! if yer gonna paraphrase george carlin, at least give him a nod.

 

Swear words are their own branch of language, with a portion of the physical mind that processes language devoted to handling them. We use them for their power; they would not have that power if they weren't taboo, so they're intinsically paradoxical, which is probably why it takes a special place in the brain to deal with them.

That editors censor them preserves their potency: consider the clout of the "f" word in 1950 compared to its clout today, where relaxed censorship and its subsequent gratutitous use has weakened it so that it has no shock value left. As we ease the taboo of using particular swear words we will eventually coin or appropriate other words to regain their lost power of speech (I can't think of any examples today but "damn" and "hell" or so weakened today even Priuschat permits them without a flicker - that would not have been true in 1950).

As to their subject matter, they are going to be associated with our taboos, as that is what gives them their power: speaking the unspeakable. Bodily waste is among the most disgusting things we apprehend (it's poison to us so revulsion to it is in our genes).

Sex has been a problem for mankind since we developed the ability to regard it intellectually, precisely because it makes complete mush of our intellect, that it easily and persistently totally overrides our intellect. That something so much a part of us so regularly subverts our very personalities will give rise to all kinds of taboos.

Swear words have to be kept forbidden if we want to keep them useable: make them just another word in the language then that's all you'll have left: just another word in the language. The paradox doesn't make any sesne, but it damn well does.

 

when conversing with people, i'm always hoping for more swear words.

 

It is difficult to understand a reason to champion what are considered
common vulgarities.

Why the everyday Anglo-Saxon "curse words" are frowned upon may
have to do with the types of situations they are generally heard in and
the emotional response they typically elicit... a loud, screaming
argument tending towards ugliness and violence.

Other than in a drawing room farce it is hard to see this exchange
escalating:
"You dumb great steaming load of excrement!"
"You stupid act of zygote creation!"
"I'm gonna' kick your gluteus maximus 'til your nose bleeds!"
"I've seen the out come of the mating of camels with sexually
transmitted diseases with more heavenly condemned to never ending
torment brains than you!"

More than anything, substituting the terms that would be acceptable, or
at least pass without undo comment in civil society, makes mockery of
the very use of "curse words." Absent the expression of mounting
tension and lack of self control by the speaker, they add no value to an
exchange... quite the opposite they just muddy things up.

Then maybe being able to use the latin or Greek or just plain high
falutin' version is a bias towards better education... surely a
fundamentally worthwhile objective.

I hope we are not going to be subjected to a rehash the whole Lenny
Bruce/George Carlin unacceptable language thing.

Seems like it will be an act of reproduction by meiosis waste of time.

Anyway, welcome back Daniel. I say let the post deletion pass.
It just might be that on consideration at a later time you would have
wished it was not given immortality in the "cloud."
And then, maybe not. YMMV.

 

It's not just the word. It's the combination of past history (good or bad), context (anger or discussion), intent of use (insult or emphasis) and then the actual word employed.

It's only fair to point out that most of the problems of late have been with very long standing PriusChat members. The moderators seem to be more forgiving than they have been in the past. They have not been banning much that I can see, but just issuing notices as a preventative measure, not as a punitive measure.

 

i think danny dropped one on us and ran.

 

NSFW (F word) As if there's still someone who hasn't heard it used at work.

 

Polite and intelligent conversation seems to be mostly a generational thing, and is rare even then. It shouldn't be, especially in print. I can't recall the last time I heard anyone younger than about 25 speak in complete sentences without an f-bomb every effing third word. It's lost its shock value and cheapened it, really. There's nothing like a good heartfelt expletive every now and then to get your point across, but it has to be unexpected for it to have any value. Even with an exclamation mark, "male bovine excrement!" simply doesn't have the same effect as saying "bullsh!t", despite being both gender-specific and anatomically correct. Maybe this passes the censors and maybe it doesn't - a little creativity and humility goes a long way. Said with a smirk and wink, and not in anger, it's not so difficult to be a cunning linguist and still get your point across.

 

" 'Nicely done indeed!" said the philatelist."

That would be a low blow.

 

Or he got reprimanded again.

 

Words like colors have all kinds of shades of meaning. Words vary as to context and delivery. They can change meaning over time, fall in or out of favor.

Trying to make sense of which words are considered dirty is unlikely to satisfy. It's like trying to make sense of the irrational driving. Sometimes people just carpet F-bomb for shock value - it has no other meaning.

Words are used to communicate, but words are also used as weapons. The most obvious example of words as weapons is the troller that makes their every post hostile.

In context, this is all about a word during a heated argument. That word was deemed a weapon - not communication. That thread has two sides that are not going to agree. A truce seems the best practical solution, but for years it's become a spiting match instead....that's the real issue - lacking the capacity of acknowledging differences of opinion.

 

I think you meant to say 'spitting match', but in this context the meaning is probably the same.

And in all due respect, I think "differences of opinion" fails to do justice to the situation. Daniel's question seems valid: Why can't someone call 'BS!' when much worse words are apparently acceptable? Really, it's more than a PriusChat issue - maybe 'rape' should be a swear word, too.

 

Reminds me of the days when I used to drive a school bus. It was a high school route so the kids were well versed in slang. On one occasion, a couple of the boys were trying to imitate a bodily function sound by putting their hand in their armpit and squeezing. I made a comment about how childish it was to try to emulate a flatus. Well, one thing led to another and before you know it I decided to lead out in a 'say what you mean, literally', contest. On a bus of about 35 high schoolers, only one could decipher what I was saying when I referred to myself as an ancient flatus. It turned into quite an exercise in English language usage. Rather than turning to a buddy and saying F.U., they were challenged so come up with what they were really saying. Were they really trying to say intercourse yourself, or something entirely different. Likewise, telling someone they're full of bull manure has a completely different connotation. It was certainly an eye opener and a few of them even took their newly found skills off the bus to share on campus. It did cut way down on my having to correct them for foul language.

 

does rape really mean the same thing as the f word, or is it just another word that has become commomplace as a sexual reference like pregnant, intercourse and abortion?

 

The act itself is much worse - why should the word be innocent?