#obscene language

[mockva]

[galleryyuhself]

Galleryyuhself - Tempa lost his.

[sophsun1]

That Flirty Lean In™️

[elena-gilbert]

How are you feeling about Alicent this season?

I’m frustrated, anon, especially after I saw these latest leaks. Like, why? For what? What is the goal of the screenwriters?

Do you remember Alicent, who hugged and comforted Aemond?

Forget it. This season, mother will not hug or comfort you.

Do you remember Alicent, who stood in front of Viserys like a mountain for her son? Who pulled the dagger out of his scabbard? Who quipped at to the proposal to marry Jace to her daughter: "You may do as you wish, husband. When I'm cold in my grave".

Forget it. This season: "You might be half the king your father was." Where did this come from?

Do you remember Alicent, who shielded her son from the dragon?

Forget it. She would give her sons to Rhaenyra and not flinch.

Not to mention that she doesn't even wear green anymore.

And not to mention that the whole point of alicole in this season was just to make Alicent look like a hypocrite and an evil bitch during the b&c event.

I was also amused when Rhaenyra said she would need Aegon's head to secure her claim on throne and Alicent was surprised. Like, girl, this is what you literally warned your son about in season 1, during his whole life, why are you surprised?

I'm wondering what is the point of Alicent now. Condal and Co destroyed all the characteristics of Alicent that were created in season 1. This show is just unfunny joke. I hope Olivia got at least a big fat check for filming in this shit.

I'm ashamed of myself for being excited about s2 before it came out right now, because after two years of waiting, I got this. And it's not just about Alicent which I stan since s1 (or Aemond, who was also ruined by bad writing), but also in general about how team green was shown this season. It's fair to say that the green team no longer exists, there are only a bunch of people who hate each other, and just Helaena with Jaehaera.

Maybe my thoughts are seem messed up and too negative, but as I said, I'm upset about how the screenwriters treated my girl this season.

[arcanewonder]

this is not a love story, but there is love in it.

[luulapants]

Let’s talk about obscenity

Western culture is currently in the midst of a great linguistic transition from the second to the third age of obscenity. Right now, it looks like we’re going to approach it more or less the same way that we did the first two, but I think that would be a mistake. So let’s talk about the history of “foul language”:

The First Age

The reason it’s called “cursing” and “swearing” is because, originally, obscene words were religious blasphemy. Making oaths to God, taking the Lord’s name in vain, cursing God. We can see this in the numerous euphemisms that were created as stand-ins for those words: “jeez” for “Jesus,” “tarnation” for “damnation,” “golly” for “God,” “heck” for “hell.”

The commandment “Thou shalt not take the Lord’s name in vain” meant to not invoke the name of God or make oaths on God except when sincerely meant. But as religious topics became entangled with the concept of obscenity, it was over-applied until people would spell out G-O-D rather than say the world when actually talking about God. Moreover, making religious words taboo didn’t stop people from engaging in the actual blasphemies that were meant to be taboo. Is shouting “Jeez!” really any less disrespectful than shouting “Jesus!”? They signify the same concept.

Many of these words continued to be seen as obscene in following ages, but increasingly only by the very devout. Words like “fuck,” “shit,“ “ass,” etc. existed during the first age. They may have been seen as crass, but they weren’t thought of as obscene until the second age.

The Second Age

During the first age, most common folks lived in one-room homes. Couples had sex in the same room as whoever lived with them. People used the chamber pot in front of their families. There just wasn’t room for people to have a sense of privacy about their bodies.

As that changed - starting with those of higher social standing - society developed new norms around sex and the body. The curse words of the second age related to these topics. Once again, a conceptual idea of what was morally correct - keeping sex and the body private - was extended to language. Not only were you not supposed to show anyone your ass, but you couldn’t say “ass” even when talking about it. So “butt”/”buttock” came in, which previously mainly referred to cuts of meat, but then that became obscene, so we have “rump” and “derriere” and “bottom.” What we might call a euphemism treadmill.

Looking back, it’s easy to call this silly. They’re just words, so what does it matter if you say “shit” or “crap” or “poop” or “doo doo”? They all mean the same thing! But the shift to ideas of body privacy weren’t bad. We’ve dialed back the Puritanical prudishness, but we don’t want to return to using the chamber pot in the middle of the living room either. Sex is still considered a private activity, and we don’t want to watch others have sex without agreeing to it first. But making the word “fuck” taboo didn’t create healthy attitudes toward sex or gave us space to grapple with issues like sexual health and consent.

If you’ve found yourself thinking that people don’t care as much about swearing anymore, noticing that media increasingly allows obscene language and no one really cares if you drop a curse word in casual company, you’re partially right... because the words we consider obscene are once again changing.

The Third Age

Today, the worst words you can use are slurs. Words that we use against groups of people. Like the second age, this shift has come due to a broader shift in social norms: it used to be socially acceptable to discriminate against groups of people. Now it is not. This is, objectively, a good thing.

However, if we follow in the pattern of the first two ages of obscenity (and we’re on that track), we can almost guarantee that a focus on correct words will overshadow and inhibit discussing the social changes we want to make. In an interview with Codeswitch, Professor Randall Kennedy, author of Nigger: The Strange Career Of A Troublesome Word, gives an example of the damage this absolutist approach can take:

I did not like it when that documentary was made about James Baldwin, "I Am Not Your Negro." That's not what he said. He said, I am not your nigger. He was very clear. He - that wasn't just a cavalier thing. He had a purpose for how we use the term. And I don't - I think this bowdlerization, I think that this cover-up, this denial, is bad. It is tampering with our cultural history, and we need to - we need realism. We need to be very attentive to facts, even facts that we view as ugly.

It’s not a bad thing that slurs are the new obscenity. It points to positive changes happening in our society. However, focus on obscene words will always detract from discussions of obscene concepts.

The modern day “tarnation,” I think, is something like “g*psy”: a word thinly obscured but signifying the same concept as the one it’s replacing. That asterisk does not give you a free pass to discuss the word lightly, but it gives that sense. If you’re going to talk about the word “gypsy,” I think you should use the word. I think that’s how we make sure we’re talking about it in a serious and conscientious manner. To force you to stop and think, “Have I put enough thought into what I’m saying to warrant using that word?”

Norms around obscene words do not last. In a century or two, people will probably regard the word “faggot” the way we think about “damn” today. It sounds awful to us today, but normalizing “Goddamn it” would have seemed awful to most decent people during the first age. That’s the nature of obscenity: its power exists only in the context of current culture. Language is a tool to convey ideas, but it can’t control them. You can’t kill an idea by killing a word. We need to have conversations about these words so when the fourth age of obscenity comes, the conceptual changes of the third are meaningful and enduring, even as concern for the words wanes.

[local-tim-stoker-enthusiast]

German Swear Word Lessons!!

Arschloch: asshole

Sheiße (scheisse): shit

Dumarsch: dumbass

Schlampe: slut

Hündin: bitch

Hure: whore

Ficken: fuck

[timidtresleches]

dumb brain moment

shtopor: :D me TRYING to be cute: GASP shtopor: :D??? me trying to be cute: **picks him up like simba** BOBR- shtopor (doesnt speak polish but has picked up various words): ):<

me: is now dead

[samadryad]

it's so bad out here when zines answer anons

[prussianmemes]

the next 32 hours will determine whether the next year will be characterized by "it's so joever'" or "we're so fucking back." both outcomes result in a reduced lifespan and incredible levels of stress but one would let me have a cool title.

[enfant--terrible]

aretino on language & authenticity (trans. paul bailey)

[entreldolorylanada]

Ocurrió así: comencé a jugar a aquel sagrado juego sin saber lo que había que hacer, pero pronto aprendí que cuando hay demasiada gente dentro de la habitación nadie quiere hablar de amor. Yo jamás lo lamenté ni lo lamentaré.*

He’s been doing this for a long time already, and if it was going to kill him, he would probably welcome the death, but unfortunately, there was one thing he had learned about himself years ago. When he had survived the attempt to hang himself, he hadn’t thought much about it. He’d been gotten out of the noose, to the hospital, and then to another hospital, the mental one. But later he’d noticed that he couldn’t overdose himself on drugs, no matter how hard he tried. This discovery, plus the fact that any of his injuries healed extremely fast for an ordinary human being, inevitably led him to the tragic (or rather tragicomic, because that was how he saw his life most of the time) conclusion that he couldn’t and most likely would never die...

... He had no illusions when he came to this place. He knew what was going on and what was going to be next. However, his last thought before passing out was, algo anda mal****. After that, there was only a dark nothing... He opened his eyes again when he realized that someone was shaking him and slapping his cheeks. For a few moments, the surrounding world looked like a blurry multicolored spot, his head was hot and heavy, and he muttered, “Los putos maricones me dieron una mierda**...” But then the fog disappeared and the anxiety took its place. Breathing fast and trying to overcome the invisible weight pushing on his chest he glanced at the guy above him, then quickly pulled his knees to his chest (and that was the moment when he saw that his clothes were still on) looking around for any kind of exit. “¿Ónde toi? ¿Quién yes? ***” The attempt to focus felt so painful like his eyeballs were about to pop out from their sockets. “Where I am? Who are you?”

@coinquinatvs

[arcenergy]

the FAA when you insinuate that you dont know all 500000 of their abbreviations and acronyms

[steakout-05]

long ass post about barry being a silent protagonist

going to dump this idea here but i really like the idea of Barry being a mute protagonist character. dont get me wrong i love the guy's voice i never want him to shut up but. hear me out.

i'm really diggin the idea of him being silent because when i was a little scrimblo playing JJ on an old ass Samsung tablet that still has the shiny reflective icons and probably hasn't gotten an update in 8 years, i hadn't seen any of the animated shorts, the rock operas, none of that. possibly the trailer, but i don't think so. Barry never talks ingame so i just kinda assumed that he's just a silent character (he also doesn't talk in the trailer but as i mentioned i dunno if i watched that)! also for some reason not knowing his backstory made me more attached to him being mute..? i dunno, i guess the simplicity of knowing him as a silent character who just flies around on a jetpack for shits and giggles and not because he was a struggling salesman is kinda charming to me.

i like to think of mute Barry as being a little more gentle! yeah he's still a tough badass who shoots scientists with his jetpack and blasts monsters in the face with a shotgun but he's a badass in a "lets go shoot zombies and then eat ice cream after :)" kind of way (but he obviously doesn't say that because, y'know, he's mute). he likes his downtime, he's a good listener and he's a little more intelligent and aware of his surroundings. he's kinda the Barry i grew up with in my head y'know? i think i'll make him a kind of AU counterpart or somethin'. shoutout to mute Barry, love this Barry!!

also the JJ logo/icon with him grinning whilst flying on the jetpack has like... autism vibes?? it's hard to explain but as an autistic guy myself i think my radar's going off. he just has neurodivergent vibes it's awesome :D

tl;dr, i always kinda thought of Barry as being mute as a kid since i had never heard him speak before, so in my head that was the Barry i subconsciously grew up with and he's pretty swell :)

[thejohnfleming]

Swear words in their perceived order of offensiveness in the UK...

  (Image by Christian Dorn via Pixabay) OfCom – the body which regulates broadcasting in the UK – has released an Ipsos Mori study it commissioned on “Public Attitudes Towards Offensive Language on TV and Radio: Quick Reference Guide. Here are some of the findings which even my reader in Guatemala may find of practical use…

[vandervoiz]

calling out swearing in fics is such a weird thing to me?? why is that character pissy these are all adults it doesn't matter in the slightest if the other uses fuck as a noun, verb, adverb, adjective and a conjecture all in the same sentence. sure, it makes them seem like they just discovered the word and are taking every opportunity to use it but like "language!" is such a weird response to another character swearing??? is that like an american thing? what the hell. let people curse.