Note from Miguel:
I created this thread by splitting the initial posts from another thread.
Quote:XAtlantic Wrote:
Lol, what's with that obsession with not using some words? I never quite got that. It is ok to carry a weapon but not to use a certain word in public ... ponder that! (sorry, couldn't resist, just a European view ... of course I know of the important influence of puritan communities in the forging of the US! They were fleeing Europe, of course ...).
Quote:Tusk Wrote:
Like you, I'm often confused by this 'social affliction' some have with 'words', the means by which we communicate. Maybe it's because my early upbringing was in the UK but I could never understand this need to chose a 'word of the day' to be socially offended by. Even to the point of being revisionists and going back in time to 'edit out' even socially impactful works like Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn and Roots.
I've always told people, it's not the words that are bad, it's the context within which they are used. If we remove words because we blame them for social unrest, we limit our ability to express ourselves to others. IMO be insulted by the racism, anger and vitriol that charges the word, not the word in and of itself.
XAtlantic, after seeing your comment on "word choice" I was reminded of a quote of Mark Twain's that I saw years ago. Unfortunately, I don't remember it verbatim, and went on a search to find it last night. The search wasn't successful, but I will attempt the quote as best I remember it. He said something to the effect that the English language had few enough words to correctly express what he intended to convey, and he (damn well) wasn't going to limited by 'societal etiquette' to say it.
After seeing Tusk's above comments about
Huckleberry Finn (and
Tom Sawyer, as well, although Huck seems to remain the more offensive to some), it seems highly likely that the remark that I'm thinking of was a response to the offense/outrage that Huck produced. And Tusk's remark was a more elegant way of stating the message my dear Mr. Twain was attempting to communicate. (I happen to love Mark Twain.)
But there are other elements regarding word usage involved, I suspect. While the U.S. likes to pretend a great evolution (and to be fair, there has been a great deal of growth), there is still a fair amount of sexism that exists. Mercfan and I have
touched on certain impacts the music world.
Although language isn't one of those areas that is discussed with frequency (if at all), I think (actually, I know) there is still an invisible wall regarding language that's acceptable for women to use. And, oddly, that wall may come as much from women as it does from men.
