Quote:
Originally Posted by Jellby
Yes, as a statement of how si**y I think this custom of asterisking words is. So we're not allowed to write a word in full but we can give enough hints to figure it out, at the same time making it clear that we know we should not write it so we know we're doing wrong...? Are we 7 years old or what[1]?
[1] With this I don't mean that 7-yos should not see the words, which seems to be the reason behind, but that this kind of "cheating" is a 7-yo attitude.
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(warning! rantiness by yours truly forthcoming
I don't disagree at all and in fact, go further. (I'd also highly recommend George Carlin's infamous hilarious diatribe on "dirty words." In which he points out that it's okay for your eyes to see and your brain to process and think, "bad" words, but God
forbid that you HEAR them!)
I mean, you can say 'poop' in front of church ladies, but god forbid you say s**t. Why? You can scream "intercourse you!" all you want and even to some extent, "screw you!," but the other? Eff you? Oh, nooooo, that's "bad."
It's the infantilization of the language and the people hearing it. For example--none of them are actually profanity. Profanity actually meant "not sacred," around religious beliefs. If you can say poop without offending G-d, not sure why on earth his/her ears can't hear "s**t," either. There's nothing about
excrement that desecrates people's
EARS. The same with all the other contemporary "profanities." All of them mean something that you're perfectly free to say another way. Where's the goddamned logic in that?
Or b*gger. In the US, we say "oh, s/he's a cute little b*gger,"
all the time. But in several sub-forums
here, on MR, you'll be moderated and
WARNED, mind you, for saying it because somebody, somewhere, objected to it as "profanity." (Presumably due to the Brit usage.) So, if you talk about cute little b*ggers, well, hell, that's okay and everybody's ears are okay, but if you say "b*gger it," OMG, quick, censor her!
It's ridiculously childish curtailment of freedom of speech (in the USA, where that actually exists, at least). A faux outrage, over terms which have meanings that are said every. single. day., but because you use word A instead of word B, people behave outraged. It's a form of control.
/rant
Hitch