The death of George Carlin last week got me to thinking about words and how we use them. Why is not okay to say fuck but it is okay to refer to it as “the F-word”? Saying “F You” may be mildly offensive, but “Fuck You” might get you written up or fired. Or why is okay to say “crap”, but not “shit”? It’s not like they don’t mean the same thing. Or in the comics, they often avoid saying “Oh my God” and substitute “Ohmygaw…”. Who do we think we’re fooling? And what exactly is it about “bad words” that make them bad? Is it because they’re offensive? Well so are a lot of words like “idiot” or “moron” or “Bush supporter”. Do these words have some kind of mystical ability to corrupt us? If anything the so-called offensive words have lost their meaning, and how shocking can a word be when 12 year old girls are using it?
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Words (In Memory of George Carlin)
The death of George Carlin last week got me to thinking about words and how we use them. Why is not okay to say fuck but it is okay to refer to it as “the F-word”? Saying “F You” may be mildly offensive, but “Fuck You” might get you written up or fired. Or why is okay to say “crap”, but not “shit”? It’s not like they don’t mean the same thing. Or in the comics, they often avoid saying “Oh my God” and substitute “Ohmygaw…”. Who do we think we’re fooling? And what exactly is it about “bad words” that make them bad? Is it because they’re offensive? Well so are a lot of words like “idiot” or “moron” or “Bush supporter”. Do these words have some kind of mystical ability to corrupt us? If anything the so-called offensive words have lost their meaning, and how shocking can a word be when 12 year old girls are using it?
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