Articulating In The Debates; The Proper And The Improper.

It's your cignature. Otherwise I wouldn't site it. (Buz is not alone. At least two other people have made funny mistakes while encouraging others not to make mistakes in this thread).

The two of you are being completely ridiculous. I've long followed documentaries about the armed services in Iraq and Afghanistan - documentaries that, when rendered airable on broadcast television, sound like Morse Code. Profanity is simply a way of life among the nation's warriors, and contrary to the two of you there's ample evidence that it always has been. My dad was a US Marine, from two generations of Marines before him at least; great-grandpa fought in WWII and grandpa saw action in the Korean War. My dad enlisted during Vietnam but the conflict ended before he could be shipped over (as a second lieutenant, no less.)All of these men could swear the air blue in front of them, as the need arose. I envy their ability to express themselves with a torrent of profanity. I'm not saying my dad swore in church or to little children.But we're not in church or talking to little children. Buz is a 70 (80? 90?) year old man. Purpledawn, I'd guess 40 is a long way behind you. And the notion that the nation's veterans are shrinking violets who can't bear to hear a dirty word at times is, frankly, offensive. The notion that a man as old as Buz is put in the position about complaining about profanity speaks to a profound immaturity and childishness on his part, as well as yours, Purple.

But EvC is also a place where we do have young kids present and where swearing is not seen as the norm.Particularly on the internet where anonymity is the norm, we cannot tell if the audience is old or young. When people post at a forum like EvC it is not a private conversation, not even a discussion among people of a known age group or maturity.Does it not then make more sense to post as though you were in the presence of young children?

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

Swearing is very much the norm on the internet, and young kids are not present in any capacity. No more than every single movie has to be marketed as though young children will go and see it. Yes, some parents will bring their young children to R-rated movies. But that doesn't imply that all communication must proceed from the context of what's appropriate for young children.You're asking people to censor themselves. If Percy wants profanity to be against the rules, he can put in rules to that effect. It'd be easy enough to code the board to reject messages with profanity or otherwise obscure dirty words.And, so far, rather than getting complaints from these supposed "young children" who supposedly frequent EvC Forum about dirty words they don't want to hear, we're just getting complaints from a bunch of oldsters on their supposed behalf. When it actually emerges as a genuine issue that young children are feinting dead away at the very sight of the word "fuck", and not simply a bunch of old people clutching their pearls about how kids these days are so rude, then we can talk about what levels of self-censorship are appropriate.

I'm not taking sides on this issue, but in regards to the profanity in the military, Back when I stated basic training, Feb 1968, a bunch of us recruits were loaded on a cattle truck to be driven to the Basic training Unit. When the truck stopped, the door was opened and a sergeant, dressed like a "Xmas tree" stepped on and stated The baptism of military service. The guy standing next to me, a deeply devout religious person, turned white when he heard this.
He was "white" for the next eight weeks as, it seems that every other word from the drill sergeants was "fuck."Edited by bluescat48, : added "s

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There is no better love between 2 people than mutual respect for each other WT Young, 2002Who gave anyone the authority to call me an authority on anything. WT Young, 1969Since Evolution is only ~90% correct it should be thrown out and replaced by Creation which has even a lower % of correctness. W T Young, 2008

Yes, well, if you had instead written: "What are some of the things that irritate you having pertinence or relevance to how members communicate", that would have been equally annoying.There is a word which would have expressed exactly what you meant. That word is "about". As in: "What irritates you about how members communicate?"Avoiding natural usage doesn't make you sound intelligent even if you get it right: it just makes you sound pretentious. Doing so and getting it wrong is unforgiveable. And the result is that a ten-year old would have written the sentence better than you did, since a ten-year old would certainly have written "about".

OK. In that case, kids, I was only joking when I said there was no Santa Claus. Stop crying now.Secondly, whatever I may have previously stated or implied, your doggy is in heaven, and I wish to retract and repudiate any remarks that I may have made to the contrary.And finally, I'm sorry for all the naughty swears. I have sullied the Internet, and I am ashamed.

That's 'cos it thinks you should capitalize it.

Clearly a spell checker mistake. The executable is called "firefox" on my linux system, and "firefox.exe" on my Windows system. On linux, the command "Firefox" fails with "Command not found", though that would work on Windows.But thanks for a good comment. I hadn't checked that possibility.

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Jesus was a liberal hippie

That's simply not true Buzsaw. You complained about a lot more than forced busing. The thrust of your comments dealt very much with race. Why deny that here?

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And the notion that the nation's veterans are shrinking violets who can't bear to hear a dirty word at times is, frankly, offensive.

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Wow, you really missed the point.The common courtesy to not speak profanity in social situations or on a public forum does not make one a shrinking violet. Asking one to refrain from profanity in a public forum does not make one a shrinking violet. Profanity doesn't make one strong or brave.I've seen documentaries. I didn't say they never used profanity. I said that military people can and do adjust to the situation. There are over 2 million people in our military and my guess is that you haven't seen every single one of them in those documentaries (no I haven't either). Buz and I have given you examples that show that not all military people use profanity as your statement implies. I've given you examples of Marines who adjust their use of profanity to the audience.

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All of these men could swear the air blue in front of them, as the need arose. I envy their ability to express themselves with a torrent of profanity. I'm not saying my dad swore in church or to little children.

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See they adjusted according to their audience.You use our honorable men and women of the service to support your use of profanity with no regard for the listener, but miss the point that our military personnel do have self control when it comes to profanity and they can and do adjust to their audience.

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You're asking people to censor themselves. If Percy wants profanity to be against the rules, he can put in rules to that effect. It'd be easy enough to code the board to reject messages with profanity or otherwise obscure dirty words. Message 64

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Just because something is allowed, doesn't mean it should be done. Self control is an admirable quality.Is it so unreasonable to adjust if someone asks that profanity not be used when addressing their posts? Reserve your profanity for your like minded "buddies" on EvC.Edited by purpledawn, : Typo

Yes, profanity was a staple of the Marine Drill Instructors as well as rough physical treatment. In the mid 70's, the Marine Corps banned corporal punishment in boot camp after an apparently retarded recruit died during the pugil stick practice.By the time I enlisted in 1978 recruits could not be physically abused by DI's. Not sure if the men could still be verbally abusive or not, but they aren't allowed to now. Recruit training for men and women in the Marine Corps is separate. Profanity wasn't allowed in the training of women marines.

Of course there was humor also. When I about to leave Vietnam, the chaplain gave a lecture on returning home and ended with the line:

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There is no better love between 2 people than mutual respect for each other WT Young, 2002Who gave anyone the authority to call me an authority on anything. WT Young, 1969Since Evolution is only ~90% correct it should be thrown out and replaced by Creation which has even a lower % of correctness. W T Young, 2008

God killed my dog? Then stole his soul? A murderous, soul-stealing deity? Ah, Dino, why should a god have life, and thou no breath at all?Now "to catch God's eye and not look down." There's gonna be hell to pay.

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Dost thou prate, rogue?
-Cassio

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Real things always push back.
-William James

What makes any of you feel so special that you should have the internet censored just for you? Why should we censor ourselves just for you? They're just words, people. What really makes fuck any worse than frig used in the same context? They are words that have a stigma attached to them and you lot have decided they hurt your feelings, but why?Edited by hooah212002, : No reason given.

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"What can be asserted without proof, can be dismissed without proof."-Hitch.