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Member (Idle past 370 days) Posts: 876 From: Richmond, Virginia USA Joined: |
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Author | Topic: why are bad words bad words? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
DC85 Member (Idle past 370 days) Posts: 876 From: Richmond, Virginia USA Joined: |
I really wanted to post this in the Coffee house .... but we can't now
so here is the question Why are some words considered to be Real bad words. Considering many other acceptable words mean the exact same thing? Just a weird thought that went through my head... any Ideas?
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crashfrog Member (Idle past 1457 days) Posts: 19762 From: Silver Spring, MD Joined: |
Why are some words considered to be Real bad words. In English, bad words universally either refer to sex or defication (or the parts of the body involved.) This isn't true for every language, I guess - according to my wife Russian swear worlds (mat) are all sexual. But the real reason is rather circular - they're considered bad words because they're considered bad words. Language is created by the speakers, so if a community agrees that a word is bad, it becomes bad.
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Dan Carroll Inactive Member |
Same reason "murder" is used differently than "homicide", I guess. (i.e., nobody is going to see one person killing another and scream, "HELP! HOMICIDE!")
Over time, certain words pick up social weight because of prior use. After that, they've got emotional connotation in addition to literal meaning. For instance, "n*gger" and "african-american" might mean the same thing literally, but given the prior use of "n*gger", the emotional connotation it carries gives it a very, very different meaning. "As the days go by, we face the increasing inevitability that we are alone in a godless, uninhabited, hostile and meaningless universe. Still, you've got to laugh, haven't you?" -Holly
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Melchior Inactive Member |
Add in the fact that individual people interpret words differently, and it's more or less impossible to classify some words as bad.
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Cynic1 Member (Idle past 6065 days) Posts: 78 Joined: |
What is even stupider is that it is the actual letters of the words that people find offensive. I can write out sh*t, and everyone knows the word and its meaning. If you take out one of the letters, the word is acceptable. Similarly, you get the first and last sound in T.V. and radio when the word is "bleeped."
Is this all because the actual letters that form the word are evil, or that we have a stupid double standard regarding social mores? Hey, has anyone ever noticed that when "Goddamn" is bleeped, only the "God" part is bleeped and not the "damn?" Is "God" a bad word?
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DC85 Member (Idle past 370 days) Posts: 876 From: Richmond, Virginia USA Joined: |
Hey, has anyone ever noticed that when "Goddamn" is bleeped, only the "God" part is bleeped and not the "damn?" Is "God" a bad word? This one I understand more then others.. and why it would be looked at as "Bad" When you use God in things like that you offend many people and I respect that. the reason "God" is bleeped is because you can say damn on TV.... I can see why GD would be offencive to people... however alot of people who look down on the use of GD still use God in sentences "it shouldn't" like "oh my God" or "for God's sake" .... so that I do not understand.... [This message has been edited by DC85, 04-20-2004]
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DC85 Member (Idle past 370 days) Posts: 876 From: Richmond, Virginia USA Joined: |
what emotional connotation do words such as A$$ , Sh!t , B!tch , and even f^uck have?
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Dan Carroll Inactive Member |
I'm not a linguist, so take what I say with a grain of salt. It's guesswork on my part. But the words you list tend to be ones used out of anger or frustration. If you were trying to insult a woman, would you call her "bitch", or "female dog"? Why not "female dog"? In literal terms, they mean the same thing. But "bitch" carries more weight as an expression of disdain, or even hatred.
Similarly, if someone is walking down the street, and they suddenly yell the word "fuck" at the top of their lungs, do you figure they mean "sexual intercourse", or can you safely assume that they're trying to express some sort of anger? "As the days go by, we face the increasing inevitability that we are alone in a godless, uninhabited, hostile and meaningless universe. Still, you've got to laugh, haven't you?" -Holly
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Dan Carroll Inactive Member |
quote: Yeah, but tossing the asterix in at least shows an effort to keep things clean, you know? It's like emptying the ashtrays when you have company over, even though you've left empty beer cans all over the living room table. Sure, you didn't really accomplish anything, but at least people can see you care about not offending them. (I'm in my mid-twenties. To me, this is a really good metaphor.)
quote: Still guesswork, but it's probably just what happens when one group censors another, rather than a person or group censoring themselves. The group being censored obeys the letter of the law so they don't get screwed, but breaks the spirit whenever possible. "As the days go by, we face the increasing inevitability that we are alone in a godless, uninhabited, hostile and meaningless universe. Still, you've got to laugh, haven't you?" -Holly
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Melchior Inactive Member |
I wouldn't say. I've encountered quite frequently online the usage of **** as a way to curse more than usual because 'it's okay to curse if you don't spell it out'.
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Dan Carroll Inactive Member |
Well... it's also rough business trying to read reason or logic into the way anyone behaves online.
I like to explain internet behavior this way. "As the days go by, we face the increasing inevitability that we are alone in a godless, uninhabited, hostile and meaningless universe. Still, you've got to laugh, haven't you?" -Holly
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TechnoCore Inactive Member |
I once red that protestant countries use bad words connected to devils, hell and so on. And almost none with sexual content.
Catholic countries tend to use sexual words or the holy mother. In Italy they say thing like "I will piss on your mothers grave" and so on. Since USA is a mix of both, they use both i guess. And through globalization bad words are getting mixed together much more nowadays. In sweden (protestant) all bad words are about heaven and hell. Just now recently you can hear people curse with words like cunt, f*ck and so on. It sounded relly weird just a couple of yrs ago though. What is the curses in muslim countries? Pigs and family ?And in asian ?
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Denesha Inactive Member |
A good bad word must be short spelling.
One syllable is fine.
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TechnoCore Inactive Member |
Depends what you will use it for. If you just got hurt and are in pain, you just want to say something quickly to relive you of anger and pain. Then a short word is perfect.
If you are to insult someone, I think longer words or even sentences have a better effect!
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Denesha Inactive Member |
Yes indeed. We must not forget all the word we "think" but never spell. The collection should be larger. In fact, I think many of these words but just retain them even when I'm alone or in a little group. This is cultural I guess.
"Don't you dare say naughty words..." Never heard that before? Denesha
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