No, this isn't an attempt to challenge the admins, if anything it's closer to a rip off of George Carlin, but has anyone else here ever given a lot of thought to the whole concept of swearing as it applies to Western culture? I mean in many cultures swearing is based almost entirely on religious verbiage, and that I get. I'm not religious, but I can see how using certain 'holy' words for the sake of insulting someone or casting a negative slant on something would seem highly disrespectful and anti-thetical. But here in North America we are mainly concerned with sexual terminology and other similar topics. Now I'm gonna have to tread lightly here, and if I cross the line, admins, please know that I made an honest effort to avoid doing so... ...but for some reason human biological functions defy social constraints the most over here, and it and aspects of it puzzle me. For example, when it comes to toilet humor, ie swearing that is derived from defecation, there seems to be a hierarchy...Telling someone to P--- ( urinate) Off seems to be much more acceptable than to say the word S--- ( feces ). WHere and how was that decided? To call someone an A-- ( buttock) is deemed mildly insulting, but to call someone a D--- ( penis) is more so...and to utter the dreaded C---- ( vagina) word is to risk life and limb, especially if women are present. Where did this system of relative swearing values come from, and does it make sense to anyone? Also, as for the act itslef, F--- is the basic swear word of all Americans, and yet why is that? It is usually used to denote something negative, and on lesser occassions to emphasize the extremity of something, and yet most Americans would not qualify intercourse as a negative, and if studies are to be believed most of us don't find it all that excessive either. So how did this evolve into common language, not only with accpeted meanings and appropriate usage, but moreover with an accepted code of what human biological function words are acceptable, and what aren't, in 'polite' company? And lastly, as I've demonstrated repeatedly, why is is that slang terms for human biological functions or areas are considered offensive, and yet the technical names are benign? No one is going to suggest I get booted from here, for example, for saying intercourse...I don't even have to say inte****rse...but it is commonly known and accepted that where I to actually spell out F**K, I'd be in deep water. I repeat, this isn't a passive aggressive shot at the standards of the admins; those standards accurately reflect the standards of the majority of society. What I'm trying to figure out is what the F**K that's all about...
Very interesting questions! I've wondered about some of these. Also, why do so many of our swear words and insults make no sense? For example, the quintessential insult is "f*** you" when, in reality, it's unlikely that you would want to f*** that person. Or saying "suck my ****" or "that sucks d***" as an insult, even though most people who use this insult probably enjoy oral pleasure and are willing to use a lot nicer language with a girl in order to get it. (OK, I know, it's something having to do with using sex for power... but still...) Also, if your vacuum cleaner is supposed to suck things in but instead blows them out, or if your hair dryer is supposed to blow air but sucks it in instead, you would think there was a problem with the appliance and it was working backwards. However, the terminologies "suck" and "blow" are considered interchangeable in other contexts. (this really confused me back in 9th grade or so, when I was desperately trying not to let anyone know that I was still figuring out what some of these words meant) Oh, @#%@!! it. It doesnt' make any @#%!!ing sense.
I don't swear much...or at least I try not to. But the only swearing that makes me literally wince is when someone says "Jesus Christ" in a swearing fashion...that gets under my skin. And not in a good way, like Sinatra talks about.
That's too funny, but a good point. Why are more negative "point values" assigned to some words and not others? Why is crap much more acceptable than ****? It's the same stuff. It's the equivalent of saying that it is acceptable to say Pontiac, but if you say Buick, I'm going to slap you. Speaking of Buick, My great aunt always says that if we drank too much we'd sell Buicks out the back door. She said, you know.....bew-ick, the sound when you hurl!
I think it shows a lot about what is on the swearing person's mind. If all they think about is sex and going to the bathroom, that's all that will come out. Remember the times in high school when most people were forced to read Shakespeare and Chaucer? Most swear phrases took on that old english slant. Parents of newborns swear using nonsensical terminology. So what's on your mind? Like I give a 001001001110.
No offense choir boy, but I have seen you type profanity on numerous occasions -- and called you out on it. Don't try to take credit for something that you don't do.
Profanity is nothing more than the pursuit of the perfect invective. It has been around since the dawn of language -- we have even found it in the hieroglyphs. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, humanity has become less creative with derision of an adversary. It takes no thought to use the prevailing barnyard, human sexual or religious insults. No one takes the time to hurl perfect epithets as in "Cyrano de Bergerac." That requires style and sophistication.
Jeff ( mailto:jeff@jeff.clutchcity.net ) has reported this post: http://bbs.clutchcity.net/php3/showthread.php?postid=1040848#post1040848 This is part of this thread: The $#^%(*$(@ Swearing Thread http://bbs.clutchcity.net/php3/showthread.php?threadid=64876 This is the reason that the user gave: This type of insult has no place on the BBS. It should be removed. This message has been sent to all moderators of this forum, or all administrators if there are no moderators. Please respond to this post as applicable. Sorry, I just felt the NEED to report this to...myself.
Great thread. I have been known to throw a worty dird around here and there. Never to be offensive...mostly out of habit or sloth. It's easier to say I' am really fu3king tired' than it is to say 'Due to the absence of sleep to which I have subjected myself of late I feel a fit of weariness coming on'. Without purposely tossing this into the Dungeons and Dragons forum...couldn't the same topic have been addressed in respect to racial and ethnic slurs?
The worst I've seen MadMax post is jackass. I understand how that could offend Mr. Thinskin, but it's really not that bad.
"The word's suppression gives it the power, the violence, the viciousness." "F*ck you, Ma! No really, I really mean it. Oh, is Pop there too? Oh, my dear Pop, f*ck you!" - Lenny Bruce
Are you saying that the origins of bathroom humour are in France? I am not dusputing this; I want to be informed...but where do you get this?
I try to respect religions, but too many hours watching the Holy Grail have resulted in me occassionaly saying that melodramatically as they did when cows were flung at them...( usually in my mind's ear I sound like Graham Chapman at the time) I honestly almost never swear; I allude to swearing in here more often than I actually even do in person...but I find it goes in streaks, and when you are aware of doing it you tend to do it more...ie if someone points out that I said " F**K" and that I don't usually, it will be more likely for me to say it in subsequent conversation, much to my chagrin, because I don't want to say it, and am aware that it appears that I'm saying it to prove that I can... I have also noticed that this works with "like" Few things drive me as insane as the typically teenage girl usage of "like" as some sort of cover all conjunction/adjective/noun/verb/etc...but often when I point it out, joke about it, etc. I find myself more prone to saying it thereafter. Drives me, like, $@#&^$#ing nuts. P.S. Anyone know what kind of 'nuts' we are discussing when we say 'nuts'? Are we talking testies, peanuts, what?
That's a great way of phrasing it...We could chalk it up to " things that make no sense but that we don't think about", but then we're just perpetuating it...plus, as you say, it's really funny when you do think about it...
