F'in Offensive Swearing

[specialeducator]

Originally Posted by Kaotic Lazagna

oh, rhymes with blunt? never considered that a cuss word, then again, that's the only think i don't (even when i'm venting )

Then maybe you want to think "demeaning to women?"

[talnlnky]

Originally Posted by evooo

Hey guys,

I am intrigued into the level of sensitivity americans have on swearing/offensive words.

In Australia, we have access to all things American - songs (duh), radio programs, tv series etc. So much so, that I feel a lot of american culture rubs off on us.

My intrigue comes with the american perception of what is considered swearing - what is now everyday common speech, or what words still need to be bleep'd out.

Obviously the derogatory ones are still bleeped, but I notice that the word 'ass' is bleeped on songs.

Some things I hear on aussie morning radio - peak time when parents send their kids to school - ass/arse, butt (not swearing), penis, vagina, brazilian (not really swearing), and yes, shit. Actually, 'shit' is used quite frequently on prime-time aussie radio and tv.

no F word yet, but we seem to be getting there. Do you find any aussies living where you are swearing more than you're used to in everyday conversation?

How's it over there? I'm not doing any sorta research or thesis, just trying to get a perspective. :)

Cheers!

its all political, you can blame it on the christian conservative right. The conservative right attracts christians and so called, "family values". That right has been in power the majority of the time in recent US history. Regan, Bush, Then Clinton broke that up for 8 years... but then Baby Bush came in for 8 years.

I don't think many americans ever think about why they think what they think. They just hear something, take it for fact/truth, and then go do it, and believe fully in it without ever questioning.

The christian church has been shouting, NO SWEARING for quite some time now.... Why? I can understand the whole "taking the lords name in vein" part. That makes sense, (tho it shouldn't be a part of any kind of official public law or policy). But the other words, the 4 and five letter words... who cares. The only reason why certain words are found offensive is because someone convinced the society that they were offensive.

why is "shit" bad? Why is it worse than "crap", or "poop", why isn't bowel movement bad?


they are all words, which are societal creations, we give them the power... Change the way the mind thinks, and the word changes its value.



EDIT: I worked with many aussies when I lived in Osaka, Japan. I also worked extremely closely with one for 9 months when I returned from Japan. I don't think Aussies cuss anymore than american's do, but maybe I only think that because I've never watched Aussie TV, or read an Aussie newspaper.... cause we know the media is what determines how much people of a country actually swear. (that was heavily sarcastic for anybody who didn't catch it)

[rg570lvr]

Mentioning Walmart and the edited cd's makes me wonder, why do they sell only edited cd's, but they sell dvd's FULL of "F"words and nudity and everything. Is it just me or does that make no sense at all?