September 2009 Archives

Why are people so addicted to saying swear words? Most of them are not used for there really concrete meanings anyways. For example the F word fully functional in all forms of language but what does it really mean and what has it meant in the past. Here it is; in the past in the original meaning the F word was an acronym F.U.C.K a retched court case. An acronym which lawyers came up with to shorten the name of the case. Today it is the word that can fit into any sentence meaning anything negative or positive. This is the same with the word asshole. There is the literal meaning, which most people don’t even consider when using the word and then there is the insult as in a jerk of some sort. This also got me thinking about how people affect language the reactions it acquires and messages it portrays to what type of person. 

Each person has a different personality, which affects their understanding of words and phrases. Different words cause different reactions and there is almost more than one way to say everything in the English language. Of course I am singling out English be because that is the only language I can be sure about. However an insult in language can become a compliment. For example you are not as ugly as sue. Sarah is very pretty. If this was said one could respond to this a few ways. Are it that you are pretty or you are not pretty but only better looking than sue or are you equally as pretty as Sarah? Could you then also be prettier than Sarah? Ever hear the phrase “I’ll take that as a compliment” This statement implies that a person can choose to look at something one-way or the other. An example of this is you are not as ugly as sue therefore you are pretty. Humans have the ability to miss lead in their favor.

They also have the ability to miss lead not in their favor. For example in Rolling Stones Magazine a women writer who was trying to sound like a strong working women against sexism towards women ended up make herself look like a fool. She replaced almost every word Women with the word vagina which intern developed the sexism she was against. Word is powerful and everyone needs to be careful on how they are translated to others.