An Issue Close to My Heart
In this post, i discussed my enduring love for the word "fuck," the most versatile word in our language. I read this article (while in professional responsibilities, thereby not paying attention in a single one of my classes today).
You know what? There are some circumstances where curse words are entirely inappropriate. I will never, for example, curse in court. And that's just one of many examples. While i love cursing, i fully grant that there are times when it's cool and times when it's not.
However, social situations are fair game as far as i'm concerned. And certainly public is fair game. Hearing the word "fuck" is just one of the many risks you take when you step outside your house in a free society. You also run the risk that someone will try to tell you you're going to hell, show you a picture of an aborted fetus, and try to convert you to Christianity. You also run the risk of hearing some guy in an orange suit play the piccolo, or of seeing ugly people, or of being called a name. That's one of the advantages and disadvantages of our society.
You don't wanna curse? Then don't. You don't wanna hear it on tv? Then change the channel.
All of this, however, is completely independent of the fact that it's stupid to be offended by a word on principle. "Fuck" and "shit" are not inherently offensive. For that matter, neither is what they mean: sexual intercourse and feces are not offensive. No word is offensive without context. For example, i sometimes use the word "spic" in conversation, not in a derrogatory sense but in order to illustrate a point or for some other not-offensive reason. Let's pretend i say this: "One of the racial slurs for Mexicans is 'spic,' but i've never been called that." There's no way that my use of the word is offensive. Of course, given a different context it's completely different.
So, what could possibly be offensive about referring to "my fucking car"? I honestly don't know.
You know what? There are some circumstances where curse words are entirely inappropriate. I will never, for example, curse in court. And that's just one of many examples. While i love cursing, i fully grant that there are times when it's cool and times when it's not.
However, social situations are fair game as far as i'm concerned. And certainly public is fair game. Hearing the word "fuck" is just one of the many risks you take when you step outside your house in a free society. You also run the risk that someone will try to tell you you're going to hell, show you a picture of an aborted fetus, and try to convert you to Christianity. You also run the risk of hearing some guy in an orange suit play the piccolo, or of seeing ugly people, or of being called a name. That's one of the advantages and disadvantages of our society.
You don't wanna curse? Then don't. You don't wanna hear it on tv? Then change the channel.
All of this, however, is completely independent of the fact that it's stupid to be offended by a word on principle. "Fuck" and "shit" are not inherently offensive. For that matter, neither is what they mean: sexual intercourse and feces are not offensive. No word is offensive without context. For example, i sometimes use the word "spic" in conversation, not in a derrogatory sense but in order to illustrate a point or for some other not-offensive reason. Let's pretend i say this: "One of the racial slurs for Mexicans is 'spic,' but i've never been called that." There's no way that my use of the word is offensive. Of course, given a different context it's completely different.
So, what could possibly be offensive about referring to "my fucking car"? I honestly don't know.
The authors of that article: "for the record, we needed special dispensation from our bosses just to say 'F-word.'"
Give me a fucking break.