Profanity

swimmerguy's picture


Good show, watch it.

First I wanted to talk about profanity. I've found several people, not really my friends but acquaintances who take offense to swearing. And I don't understand why.
Because words don't matter. The actual words that you use, they don't matter. The only thing that matters is what you say.

For example, I was watching the movie REC, a horror movie in Spanish, and I don't speak Spanish, so I read the subtitles, and evidently there was a ton of profanity in there. But I couldn't tell "fuck" from any other word.
Words, in themselves, what we say, are arbitrary sounds that we use to represent things and concepts, and written words are symbols to symbolize those same arbitrary sounds and concepts.
So to get offended by the word "fuck" or "cunt" and nothing else makes no sense. The only reason to get offended by "cunt" is if you're offended by "vagina", and no one should be.

For example, here's my favorite song:

It's a beautiful song, but some people I know wouldn't like it simply because of the fact that it uses the adjective "fucking" several times.
But that doesn't matter, all that matters is what it's actually saying, you have to get those in context, and what it's saying are beautiful things in a beautiful way.
To dislike that simply because of the words it uses is pure stupidity.

Profanity is the most stupid thing, because it's "bad words" words that are arbitrarily "bad", even though the equivalents aren't, and then cockulous people can feel good about not using these arbitrary sounds because it somehow makes them superior not to use them.

The only reason to get offended, even though I still wouldn't, is if someone for example said something like "I cuntfucked your mom last night" because then what the phrase is actually saying is something lewd that people might take offense to, but the words that were used to express that don't matter in themselves.
That we feel the need to cover our children's ears around profanity is just weird...

Although, it's mostly an act of culture, and all culture is completely arbitrary. For example, why do we circumcise most males that are born in the US? The way I see it, you can always cut it off later in the space of a few minutes, but regrowing a foreskin, while it can be done, takes a significant commitment over several years. And why we all of a sudden decided it necessary to lop off a part of our infants I don't know, because people in our society consider that just fine but making a certain vocal pattern such as "fuck", oh, that's bad.
Culture is so fucking arbitrary...

But, I have to thank the people who don't like profanity for one thing. If they didn't dislike it, the words wouldn't be as powerful and fun to use as they are, which would make a lot of my conversations a lot less interesting...
(Oh, by the way, the woman in the video says that instead of saying "Oh my God" she says "Oh my Buddha". WHAT THE FUCK LADY FUCK YOU UP THE ASS, it's okay to insult someone's, well, Buddha isn't God in Buddhism, but he's like their prophet, so I'll say it's okay to insult someone's holy entities but not your own? Or just not Christianity's? I don't understand.
However, by those rules, me, being an atheist can insult whatever God I want, and I won't be discriminating for my God cause I don't have one, so I'll say "Oh my Buddha" and "Oh my fucking God" all I fucking want)

Anyway, today, not a whole lot interesting... Kinda moped around all day, tired off my fucking ass, and basically did nothing.

A few things interesting though, 1, my Math Class seems EXACTLY like everyone's total clichéd image of That Class where the teacher drones on in the front while everyone is falling asleep and paying absolutely no fucking attention in the back. Right? I know basically all I do is stare at hot boy Christian (that's his name, not his religion, although it very well might be his religion, in fact I'd guess so) in the front, although since he sits way in front of me, and only a little to the side, I have to just stare at the back of his head until he finally turns his head and I just catch a gorgeous profile, he has such wonderful skin ^.^

Oh, and I met a guy today that I've heard around a bunch is queer, that could be interesting... I'll have to confirm tomorrow...

And one more thing, I really wish I had a rainbow of some kind. I mean, I found a rainbow wristband like 2 years ago now but lost it several months later, I was so pissed about that, but so then my awesome friend Hannah knitted me a new one that was uber cool until camp boyfriend Daniel stole and then subsequently lost it.
Wow, way to fucking go, Daniel. You first stole a V-card (since Jeff makes it sound like there are 2 for gay sex...) then a wristband. And now both are gone forever.
Fuck you.

Anyway, off to bed for me now, good night my Oasies :P

Comments

jeff's picture

Yeah...

2 sounds right. Hand jobs are just a hobby.

---
"You can judge the whole world on the sparkle that you think it lacks" - Dawes, When My Time Comes (http://youtu.be/Z0FrcTX6hWI)

elph's picture

Huh? A bit too dismissive?

And... just?

Let's see what my Mac says:

hobby: 1. an activity done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure

Much too important to be so trivialized! Shame! :) :) :)

You've forgotten?

jeff's picture

I'm just saying...

They don't count against a V card.

---
"You can judge the whole world on the sparkle that you think it lacks" - Dawes, When My Time Comes (http://youtu.be/Z0FrcTX6hWI)

elph's picture

And... would you believe...

I've not the slightest idea what a V card is :(

Do I need one?

jeff's picture

Well...

It certainly contextualizes your initial reply. ;-)

Virginity.

---
"You can judge the whole world on the sparkle that you think it lacks" - Dawes, When My Time Comes (http://youtu.be/Z0FrcTX6hWI)

elph's picture

OK... I'm enlightened!

But... who cares?

jeff's picture

Well...

You did, until you knew what we were talking about, heh.

---
"You can judge the whole world on the sparkle that you think it lacks" - Dawes, When My Time Comes (http://youtu.be/Z0FrcTX6hWI)

elph's picture

That...

...was just an instance of my inexhaustible curiosity.

Of course, I now suspect that the concept of a V Card is just an "inside" joke.

But... my commentary/question remains: Why should we even imagine that such a card (assuming its existence) should be valued by its bearer?

Actually... that's rhetorical! There is no answer...

elph's picture

Here's Part 2/2

And this 2nd half of the show is by far the better half!

Don't miss it!

I was waiting to hear whether they would dare discuss the colloquial expression for the universal male "hobby" (thanks, Jeff) that is touted (probably correctly so) for its promotion of prostate health.

Oh, well...

swimmerguy's picture

Penn

and, I assume, Teller, even though he doesn't talk, are some of the very few people I like can't find a single issue on which I can disagree with them...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt5ghXdq6Z0&safe_search=on

jeff's picture

Eh...

There were a couple shoddy Bullshit episodes, but I can't remember what they are. Knowing me, it was probably something about food, industrial agriculture, etc.

I'm not a big fan of Tell a Lie, their new show, although I'm a huge fan of Penn in general, and met them after their Vegas show and all. And, of course, I bought his recent atheist screed, God No!

---
"You can judge the whole world on the sparkle that you think it lacks" - Dawes, When My Time Comes (http://youtu.be/Z0FrcTX6hWI)

swimmerguy's picture

Well

There was that one on second-hand smoke where I heard they later admitted they were wrong, it is bad, and then they did one on PETA that I'm not sure you'd agree w/...
But I really don't like how in Tell A Lie they're not allowed to swear, I'm not used to hearing Penn talk with no profanities coming out...
Other than that I think it's fine though...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt5ghXdq6Z0&safe_search=on

socialist's picture

hey! It's John McWhorter! I

hey! It's John McWhorter! I started reading his book, The Power of Babel!

---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lJqnnIpP0o

elph's picture

Hey! You're interested in...

...the structure and history of language!

It's an extremely fascinating subject!

я было бы очень рад познакомиться с вами

(But isn't this a bit of a non sequitur to swimmerguy's post on profanity? No problem, though... got to put it somewhere!)

lonewolf678's picture

Hmm,

"я было бы очень рад познакомиться с вами" (Russian)
Translates to:
"I would be very glad to meet you" (English).

elph's picture

Thanks...

Actually... "get acquainted with" would be a bit better translation than "meet."

But yours will serve adequately. :)

Perhaps We Should Leave's picture

Philology!

The most wonderful of all interests!

* * *
'You did good. You survived'.
'Did I?'

elph's picture

No...

Linguistics: the study of languages realizing that all their aspects are amenable to scientific description.