So today's class period got me thinking more about swearing than about Japanese toilets, but I'd say it still has sociological relevance so I'm doing okay. Why the invention of these words? Mind you, I do not pretend that I don't swear like a sailor, but I feel my words have a different meaning depending on the society I am in. Call someone a wanker or a plonker in the US and you're the idiot, it's not quite the same in England - that sort of language is less talk more fist (depending on who your talking to of course). I find it sort of fascinating that people now swear so regularly that instead of holding back completely, they let slip the word crap instead of shit, etc. Also intriguing to me is the evolution of swears that occurs as we grow. We go from calling someone a poopyhead to a mother f-er in a matter of a few years. This is due to much of our surroundings, the television, how our parents speak, how our friends speak, how others react to our first outright swear. I remember the first time I let loose the f-bomb in the presence of my mother, and I have rarely, if ever, done so since. However, my mom was born in England and a "bloody hell" in the right circumstances is perfectly fine.
I thought that an excellent example of how comfortable we are with swearing is the Orbit commercial I have linked below. The insults these people throw at each other seem childish and foolish, but they are still getting the meaning accross with out pulling out the big guns (language-wise) so why can't we be satisfied calling each other lint-lickers?
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3 comments:
Those wankers were driving me nuts! Can I say that since this America? Ahh social construction of reality.
Yes I think the evolution of swear words is interesting, but I also think an important question is why do some people choose to use these words at certain times? Do they connote a sense of rebellion? Are the students trying to say that they are older and mature because these words are limited to adults and therefore represent adulthood? Do the words represent a way of being anti-school? Or perhaps these words serve a function in society - allowing people to express frustration without violence.
p.s.
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I agree that in many ways swear words constitute a sense of adulthood, though I think that swearing is becoming more and more accepted due to the prevalence of more harmful activities that also come with adulthood (sex, drugs, alcohol, etc.). Maybe swearing is a tag along to those other things, people swear to demonstrate their "maturity". Swearing is also an expression of frustration - since we are very limited in our physical aggression (unlike the tribe in Venzuela we read about) it is a way to vent. It does worry me somewhat that people are dependent on swear words as shows of maturity - what really amkes a person mature? It is easy to spot but not so easy to define.
this is a cool post! i don't really know why the swear words we have are around. it's a very strange phenomenon and i'd like to think, like sal said, that it's a way to get out frustration without physically fighting (which is much less frowned upon, in my opinion, than fighting) but i think it more has to do with looking cool now-a-days. it's as if you are proving you are an adult by doing something you were told not to do as a kid. hmm.
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