World Events
Topic: Bad Words replaced by "other" words...WHY?

#	Author	Message
1	X-san Wed 5/14/2008 6:49a	Okay, well I figured I should put this in "world events" even though it's got nothing to do with world events but I'm just guessing Doobie et al would be happier if said subject was in "world events" (the catch all place for "distasteful stuff, if I understand LaughingPlace correctly lol). So, without using "bad words" (a violation of community standards, one I'm familiar with all too well :p), I have to ask... WHY is it not okay to say that vulgar verb we all are familiar with (NOT talking LP here, but in print and media in general)...BUT it's okay to say "the F-bomb"? And why is it not okay to use that most vile of racial epithets, and yet it's common and accepted in print and media to refer to that word (which we ALL know) as "the N-word"? Have we become a society of such ridiculously scared and skittish people that we can't even refer to the word itself IN CONTEXT (such as a news reporter reporting what someone said)? I'm sorry, but seeing some news reporter referring to "the N-word" seems, to me, juvenile and unprofessional. And yet the word itself is an incredibly powerful social taboo. Why is that? And all around, I hear all about the "f-bomb". Pardon my French here, but doesn't EVERYONE and his brother know the exact word we are referring to? Doesn't this seem rather stupid to anyone else? So anyway, does replacing one offensive or objectionable word with something else THAT MEANS AND INDICATES THE EXACT SAME THING really mean anything? Are we just "taking the edge off"? To me, a reporter reporting that "Mr. Bush used the F-word today, followed by the S-word and then..." sounds like a report delivered by a kindergarten kid. Embarrassing to the reporter, to say the least.
2	Mrs ElderP Wed 5/14/2008 8:01a	My comment is that manners often start out making sense and then gradually develop such a culture that they don't make sense anymore. Why, for instance, does your salad fork have to be smaller than your dinner fork and why does the fork go on the left and the spoon on the right? Anyway, that doesn't address your point of the reporter looking silly and juvinile. Let me just say that I appreciate the work arround. I grew up with parents that didn't swear, ever. At my house saying something "sucks" gets you a dirty look from my mom and maybe a comment about cleaning up your language. Now, as an adult, I don't swear, ever (if you don't count "sucks" *grin*). I work in middle schools and high schools as a substitute teacher, I do hear it occaisionally, but I don't say it. As someone who doesn't say the words, hearing a reporter use the work arrounds doesn't assault my ears, but when I hear the words I flinch. Mostly on the inside, sometimes, depending on the string, on the outside. So, in summary, yes, I agree it's silly. However I appreciate it as being less assualtive to my ears than the other.
3	u k fan Wed 5/14/2008 8:11a	I don't know, but I do love to say "Gosh darn it". I just like the way it sounds!!!
4	Goofyernmost Wed 5/14/2008 8:18a	Thus is the essence of Political Correctness. We are a silly species.
5	WilliamK99 Wed 5/14/2008 8:54a	There is no difference in saying Gosh Darn it or the other word. It's just more respectful to others to say the nicer version. Mr. X, we live in a world that is offended by everything, get used to it. It'll get worse....
6	Kar2oonMan Wed 5/14/2008 8:55a	In "High Anxiety", Mel Brooks is addressing a gathering of psychiatrists. As he begins to talk about matters of sexuality, a psychiatrist arrives to the convention late, and sits in the front row with his two young daughters. He apologizes and explains he couldn't find a sitter. What follows is a very funny scene, where all these scientists, mindful of the kids, alter their language so as not to say and "dirty" words. Brooks discusses "brea--- er, uh, balloons!" and so on. Everytime I hear a news reporter working hard to get around one of these words, I think of that scene.
7	DAR Wed 5/14/2008 9:16a	I have no flippin idea why we sometimes replace one flippin word with another flippin. If I were to flippin guess it has to do flippin standards and flippin decorum that some flippin people want to establish. But hey what the flip do I know.
8	fkurucz Wed 5/14/2008 9:28a	This find of reminds me of a practice of Orthodox Jews, which is to never print the name of god, including the word "God". Their loop hole to get around this is to substitute one letter in the word. A common substitution I have seen is to replace "God" with "G-d" (I have seen this on Jewish websites like www.JewishWorldReview.com that publish secular editorials). This strikes me as self defeating, as "G-d" simply becomes another name for God.
9	barboy Wed 5/14/2008 9:45a	Yes X, I have always found that to be one of the most embarrassing features to life in the US post 1994. And when someone says the "N word" in my presence I turn around and say the whole word in all its glory right back to him/her to show that alec that I don't play the political corectness game --- I don't care who he/she is either, it will be said. One time a woman felt offended but I didn't care and I just laugh in her cowardly face(and if it were allowed here on LP I'd say openly and freely where needed too). And I don't say "mentally challenged" like some of those nonthinkers out there either-- "mental retard" has worked just fine since its inception.
10	alexbook Wed 5/14/2008 9:53a	Of course, "retard" started out as a polite euphemism for so that people wouldn't be offended by the blunter "cretin," "idiot," or "imbecile." So, when you call somebody a "retard," you're actually being politically correct, circa 1950.

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