[Too busy to think, so I’m posting yet another old thought of mine from YOY.]
Should certain words, devoid of sexual meaning, be banned from TV or radio?
Take the word, “fuck,†for instance.
When used to mean, “have sex,†it can be argued that it’s obscene. But when you use it like, “that was fucking awesome,†then it’s NOT sexual, and therefore not obscene (though it may be profane, vulgar, rude, naughty, dirty, etc.).
I’m getting all of this from Julie Hilden’s article about it on her findlaw page (link).
I think I agree that these words should NOT be prohibited, but I’m not sure. I accept her argument that simply hearing a word used as a superlative (not sexually) isn’t damaging to children, or anyone else.
But I still don’t LIKE it when I hear it broadcast. It jars me. (Which makes me wonder why, since I USE words like that all the time. Why am I jarred by language that I use myself?)
In any case, I think that if I can’t come up with a better reason to BAN language than that it jars me, well, we shouldn’t ban it.
Since i never respond to my friend rob’s site, i thought this was a good time. Just today i saw an article about this movie:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0486585/
No real commentary on Rob’s thought. Just wanted to let him know that others share his thoughts on the infamous f-word.
I would argue that “fuck” is not an obscenity however it’s used. It is a vulgarity, whether used correctly or abused as a modifier. True obscenities would include “torture”, “war”, “slavery”, “rape”, “child molestation”, and of course “liberal”.
Swearing is limited to words like “swear”, “oath”, etc.
Cursing refers to words like “damn”.
I don’t know why these terms (and others) get so often conflated, but they shouldn’t be. If the FCC really wants to restrict words and phrases that refer to sexual or excretory functions, they have their work cut out for them, as we have a plethora of euphamisms, including “do”, “bang”, “score”, “hook up”, and “dump”, “leak”, “visit the swamp”, etc.
OTOH, I agree that it can be negatively jarring to hear these words, despite having used them most of my life. In IT, I find most programmers regularly use vulgarities. I’ve been around a few who were obviously sensitve about them, and was glad of the change that made to my own language around them. It’s really just as effective to say “well, that wasn’t good” as to say “holy motherfucking crap”.
BruceS, rounding third and heading for home
I’ve begun to imitate my boss. When things go wrong, she smiles tightly and says “Excellent!”
Meanwhile, my 9-yr-old daughter now uses “snap” as an expletive. I’m starting to hear that word as the equivalent of more colorful terms, to the point that I don’t want her to say it anymore. Not that I’ve said anything to her. Yet.