No cussing

posted by Jeff | Saturday, February 28, 2009, 11:55 AM | comments: 4

A kid in SoCal is being harassed because he started a "no cussing" club at his school. It's not funny, but it's still interesting. The kid says he wanted other teenagers to think about how they sounded when swearing.

It's no secret that I fucking love to swear. I don't entirely understand the cultural forces that make certain words naughty and others not. I remember at the last Cavs game we went to listening to some asshole behind us on his phone half of the game, sounding like a moron with various four-letter words. But now that I think about it, if he would've taken out those words, he'd still sound stupid.

So this leads me to the conclusion that there are actually two kinds of swearing. In one context you just sound like a bigger moron, but in the other, you can come off as witty and clever.

But regardless, I still don't understand why certain words are designated as naughty. Gonch swears in front of his kids and they don't swear at all, so there's more to the story.


Comments

Gonch

February 28, 2009, 5:15 PM #

Totally with you. I see nothing wrong with certain words. I don't believe words are bad, I believe intention and context are.

Which is why I never understood how "bleeping" words or switching words makes something ok - we all know what is meant to be said and the intention and context remains.

Seriously. A string of sounds is bad, but saying the exact same thing using a different series of sounds is ok? Whatever.

I might go harass this kid too. ;)

Walt

February 28, 2009, 7:09 PM #

For being Wikipedia, this was pretty insightful. :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profanity

CPLady

February 28, 2009, 8:35 PM #

Obviously, there is a societal view about cussing that supposedly makes doing so "wrong" but like Gonch said, I also think intention and context is what make certain words "bad".

On the other hand, people who speak with every other word being a cuss word is moronic. Reminds me of Spock in Star Trek: The Voyage Home when Spock was trying to under stand cussing:

Spock: "Your use of language has altered since our arrival. It is currently laced with, shall we say, more colorful metaphors, "double dumb-ass on you" and so forth."
James Kirk: "Oh, you mean the profanity?"
Spock: "Yes."
James Kirk: "Well that's simply the way they talk here. Nobody pays any attention to you unless you swear every other word."

I cuss. More than a woman should. But then again, I rarely use (as George Carlin put it and I have to say one of his best comedy routines) the seven dirty words in "polite" company.

But a good "Fuck" is sometimes the only way to describe the way I'm feeling.

Diana

February 28, 2009, 10:24 PM #

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqtgfjkB6Pg


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