I would like to discuss swearing/cursing/the use of expletives, so listen up, you friggin pieces of crap.
...Did I just swear at you?
Well, did I?
If you say no, I have to ask you what it is that makes swearing, well, swearing. Is it the words themselves, or the intent behind them? What offends? The meaning, or the literal words?
If I say friggin pieces of crap, what I really mean of course is fucking pieces of shit. Now, we all know which one sounds worse, because we have been conditioned to think so. Fucking pieces of shit sounds worse. Yet, THEY MEAN THE SAME FRACKING THING.
Somewhere along the way, someone somewhere decided that frigging, or friggin, would be a suitable, and much more acceptable alternative to fucking. And crap would replace shit. They mean the same thing. If I point to a pile of excrement, does it really matter if I call it crap, shit, or poo? I'm referring to the exact same thing, and only changing what letters of the English language I put together to describe it. Now, of course language has meaning, so don't think I am trying to deconstruct language by breaking it down and then concluding with its' meaninglessness. I'm not. The thing is, though, that I am talking about words that literally have the SAME meaning.
I always found it ridiculous as a kid, and then a teenager, when my parents wouldn't bat an eye if I said “Ah, frigg!” or “Ah, crap!” but if I said “Ah, fuck!” or “Ah, shit!” they would freak. I can recall one day my brother and I testing this. We started saying fock you to eachother, and predictably, my mother freaked.....until we explained that we were saying fock as opposed to fuck. All of a sudden....it was okay.
....
Amazing, the power these words have. My brother and I meant the exact same thing, but we changed one letter and all was well.
What is it that makes a curse word a curse word? The intended meaning, or the word itself? And how fucking ridiculous is it that we created language, then picked a few words and said “You can't say those,” and THEN created alternative words that HAVE THE SAME FUCKING MEANING, and made those okay!!!
Seriously....what the fuck?
You have no idea how often I've went through this exact though process. The whole thing has never made any sense to me. I usually end up thinking it came from either religion or social differences. For some reason it seems easy for me to imagine it starting with the upper-class being to good to use the vulgar common words and then the lower class trying to copy that so they feel better about their station in life.
ReplyDeleteMaybe even a combination of both. At least that's my theory. I guess I should look it up at some point.
Same as the guy above, I have had this same exact thought myself.
ReplyDeleteSo F'N true!
This is so fucking true!!! Genius post.
ReplyDelete