More thoughts on language
Since I wrote about the problems I have with the words suck and f*ck (* is to avoid search engine problems, not because I won’t say the word) and you were all too polite to disagree with me 
I wanted to give some exposure to some different viewpoints. Language is important, and I think we owe it to ourselves to look at it from all sides.
Persephone’s Box has a piece up in defense of profanity and Super Babymama has one on the problem she has with certain words and the ones that don’t bother her. I respect both their opinions, so I wanted to give you a chance to read them, if you haven’t already. They’ve given me a lot to think about.
April 27th, 2006 at 8:43 am
Sorry Terry.. I posted about f**k in the wrong spot… look at the next entry. LOL I blame it on prednisone.
April 27th, 2006 at 9:27 am
I am sure that you know that f**k is a legal term.. for unlawful carnal knowledge. It is amazing how terms become porn.
It hurts my ears more when people use words that they either do not understand or do not know how to use… Gosh dang.. there should be a law.
April 27th, 2006 at 9:43 am
I moved it for you, Cynthia.
I’m pretty sure that’s an urban legend, and that f*ck is just old Anglo-Saxon. And, ironically enough, I have no problem with it in a sexual context - it’s just its use as an insult that bothers me.
I know what you mean about being set on edge by word misuse. Leave/let drives me up the wall!
April 27th, 2006 at 12:08 pm
Buzz (TV morning show) likes to do a new word every once in awhile and invariably they put it in the sentence wrong. They use a noun for a verb or somthing like that. ARGH! LOL
Can’t they hear when it is wrong?
April 27th, 2006 at 1:18 pm
Terry, I actually *agreed* with you on your position on “sucks”! I suggested I’d cut down, but it didn’t happen. Then I started thinking about it further.
The only phrase I do stand firm on is “Is that ever gay.” When I hear a students use it to describe some wanker in the class, I tell them they’re insulting homosexuals everywhere.
“Wanker” is another sexual term that perhaps shouldn’t be use disparagingly, but I do love it so. I have nothing against masturbation at all (hey, April is national masturbation month, apparently). It’s just got a humerous edge to it that I like.
Ironic that I hate the one term but not the other when really there’s little difference in their usage. I guess the difference is that the one group is openly discriminated against.
I also put a stop to “throws like a girl” and “drives like a woman.”
But pretty much everything else is a go.
April 27th, 2006 at 2:15 pm
Sage, I hope you didn’t think my link was an insult or a sign of disagreement — you raised some really good points that I wanted people to read!
Wanker doesn’t bother me a bit because it makes me think of Robert Heinlein’s great quote about fancy prose being just masturbation in public - only getting the writer off. Wanker has the same “non-contributor to anyone else” image to me. Cool about April being masturbation month.
It’s great that you’re thinking about it, and coming to your own conclusions. I love it when that happens.
April 27th, 2006 at 8:02 pm
I’ve been thinking about your criticism of ’sucks’ since reading it the other day. It is vary annoying that I’d never associated that useful and slightly humorous term of disparagement with the sexual act or the generous individuals who practice it. Now I am thrashing about trying to find the right adjective to use for a post about high-school textbooks that I am trying to write.
There may be an ‘out’ in the fact that words do, in fact, have multiple meanings and connotations depending on context. If I say a textbook ’sucks’, that really isn’t sexual. But I don’t want to distract anyone from what I’m trying to say by the wrong association.
It’s a head-scratcher, all right.
April 27th, 2006 at 9:11 pm
Sorry to frustate you, DOF, but I’m glad I’ve made you think. I’ve completely gotten it out of my vocabulary by using stinks, but that’s not much help in your situation.
April 30th, 2006 at 4:36 pm
One “advantage” to using those words in posts is you get all the hits you’ve always wanted from folks googling for porn. Nothing like being a disappointment to a guy who wants to see pussy, not just read a feminist analysis of it.
May 1st, 2006 at 8:23 am
Lol, Kactus! I have enough trouble with porn seekers already - one of my top search terms is “see invisible people have sex.”