Anonymous 10d6e691a14c11135562732372ee2921 started this discussion 2 months (2008-10-07 06:47:07 UTC) ago:
So, this would probably be my first official topic/ question to begin the many that I will ask in due time. In all honesty, I see myself asking these questions to find out just what kind of people are out there outside of my neighborhood and circle of friends and relatives. To know all these different opinions and answers, because I'm…used to the ones I hear from those around me already.
Also it's to see if there are actually those I can trust with stuff I would never dare to speak so openly about within my said circle. But before I get too off topic here, lemme just ask away:
Now, I know a lot of people have probably thought about this before, and I know I think about it just about everyday, since it questions some of my beliefs for the most part: but who decided that some words in our English vocabulary should be bad? And why?
This is just a brief list of the more general "bad" words:
> fuck
> bitch
> ass
> bastard
> damn
> shit
I know there are more - plenty more - but I just want to get something across here: only one of these words is actually bad. The rest of these - their connotations are relied upon to actually consider them profane to some extent. But their denotations speak in an almost completely different light. You all know the connotations, but what about their actual meanings?
Respectively, they mean:
> to push, or to strike (somewhat controversial, as most typical dictionaries claim otherwise)
> a female dog
> a donkey, or mule
> without a father
> to curse
> excrement, feces, crap
By meaning, damn actually insults. The rest of the words have absolutely nothing to do with profanity (technically, and even scientifically).
So who made that choice? Who came up with the idea to make "bad words" out of these? More over, why did they come up with such an idea? I mean, in practice, the word train could be taken just as much as an insult as asshole. "You train! I'm going to talk you up!" Sounds weird, yes, but lemme ask you: what's stopping our people from making this so? We already have a list going here, why not add more to it?
I just think it's silly that we have such a filter on our language. Granted, I try to prevent such words from tainting my own tongue (as my beliefs tell me to), but really now. The same could be said for gestures, too, if you ask me. Who said the middle finger can insult, but not the ring finger?
Who? When? Why?
Also, in my opinion, when you put a restriction on something - words, in this case - you actually encourage those to break that restriction and proceed with "cussing" up a storm. I say if we took those restrictions off, we probably wouldn't hear them as much. The same goes for alcohol, actually. Yes, their might be a spike in use, but in the long run, the overall use of it will lower, because people might not find as much interest in it as they did before - all because of that restriction.
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Anonymous cf9861a301292051f4bfd555850d6455 replied with this 2 months (2008-10-07 13:50:04 UTC) ago, 7 hours later (#67,194):
I think words become curse over time if it starts being used as a bad word and continues to do so. For example, retard which was originally a euphemism, has now re-entered English lexicon as an insult.
Anonymous 2a43ff0ffb4641403d8f38e3da9d7871 replied with this 2 months (2008-10-07 17:58:20 UTC) ago, 4 hours later (#67,268):
Most have some meaning at first. Bitch and cunt both came from words meaning female dog, and referred to the shamelessness of their habits.
Anonymous 201818df06127c812337c4b27ef41ccc replied with this 2 months (2008-10-08 21:25:06 UTC) ago, 1 day later (#67,674):
They're just words, and the government are fascist.
Youtube for George Carlin's 7 dirty words. Also Frank Zappa on Crossfire.
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