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I'm from New Jersey, where the weak are killed and eaten. The F word rolls off my tongue as do a few others with a lot of Ks in them. Plus I was once married to a longshoreman. Though we are long divorced, when we see each other for something related to our daughter, we cheerily depart by wishing each other "F U".
LOL!!!
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I'm from New Jersey, where the weak are killed and eaten. The F word rolls off my tongue as do a few others with a lot of Ks in them. Plus I was once married to a longshoreman. Though we are long divorced, when we see each other for something related to our daughter, we cheerily depart by wishing each other "F U".
Due to having one of my posts heavily edited for so-called "profanity" - including words like "friggin" which isn't even profane - I thought I would take the time to introduce the reality of swear words to the uber-religious. Because there's no way that post would have garnered so much attention if *SOMEONE* (perhaps more than a few) decided to jump up and down on the report button.
Which is what I've come to expect from theocratic-fascism since we're heading down that road anyway. Gotta censor, restrict, :and ban, right?
So ...
To get right into the thick of it, there are no such thing as "profane" words. Why? Because the original meaning of "profane" was "not of god" or anything that isn't considered holy. The chair you're sitting in is profane. The keyboard you're going to hit the report button with - again - is profane. The toothbrush you'll use before bed is profane. Are they holy items? No? Then they are profane.
Thus "profanity" is a myth. How many holy words do you know, hmm? Yeah, case closed, right? Maybe some big on Biblical scholarship might know a few, but you can't communicate using nothing but holy words, so 99.999% of what comes out of anyone's mouth is actually "profanity" by the proper definition.
But why are they also called "swear" words? Well, this is even dumber than the whole "profanity" issue. It actually comes from one of the commandments - Thou shalt not take thy Lord's name in vain. These days, some religious people mistakenly believe that just saying the word "God" is breaking the commandment while others thinking throwing out an angry, "Jesus Christ!" is wrong.
Nope ... that's not what that commandment is referring to. What we're talking about here is making an oath in the name of God. Ironically, it's often one of the few things we ARE allowed to say and here all this time its the only thing we AREN'T allowed to say, Biblically speaking.
Which means if you tell your kid, "I swear to God, Kenny, if you didn't do your homework, I'm gonna kill you!" Well you just commited a sin. Yep. Because obviously you didn't mean it. Yet you just made a false promise to God - to kill Kenny. And since this isn't South Park, I very much doubt that was your plan when you made the oath.
For instance, Leviticus 19:12 - You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.
By some idiotic discombobulation in the English language, a whole series of other words because "swear" words even though they have absolutely NOTHING to do with swearing to God - or making an oath of any kind. Just want am I swearing to do if I say, "Aw s--t!" And to whom am I swearing?
Every mention of swearing in the Bible is talked about in relation to an oath. The situation becomes even more confused when the English language became sloppy somewhere in the late middle ages when any expletive became an "oath." Which means simply shouting "f--k!" after stubbing your toe is an oath. Even authors got in on the act and even today you'll often read a sentence like, "John spit an oath after receiving the bad news."
NO! So-called bad words are not oaths, swears, or even profanity!
It is positively, mind-bendlingly ridiculous - because this little list of words became wrongly and stupidly associated with the one and only thing the Bible commands us not to say (other than blasphemy) - which is swearing a false oath using God's name. Precisely NONE of those words have anything whatsoever to do with Biblical prohibitions or commands from God.
Some people will even resort to calling them "curse words," but again, it's a bad, bad transference of Biblical talk to mainstream speech - during a time when the world was far more superstitious than it is even today. In those days literal curses and blessings were very real things and they believed people really could be "cursed" by saying certain words.
But c'mon ... really? Does anyone here believe that belting out a big "dammit!" after something wrong happened is actually cursing anything? Do you seriously believe that a word like that has any magical properties that is literally going to "damn" someone? After all I thought only God had that power. Therefore, there are no "curse" words - especially since "real" magical incantations are very precise things and can't just be belted out in a single word. No one here is Harry Potter ya know?
Ergo, people need to get it out of their heads that these prohibited words contain any kind of magic or that they have any real power to hurt, harm, or influence where you go in the afterlife. I mean, seriously, I hope no one on this forum is THAT superstitious.
So why, then? Why are these words prohibited?
I'll tell you the reason. Better sit down because yeah, it's a long one. A really long one. Because, you see, the reason why these words are prohibited is because - there isn't one. Yep. Quite literally, there is no reason. The words chosen for prohibition are arbitrary, meaningless, and random - as if putting words in a hat and drawing them forth because society just couldn't exist without making at least a few words "naughty." It's akin to building a house with an extra room, the door to it always locked. And the ONLY reason why this extra room was built was to put a forbidden place to make the kids go bonkers. Oh there's nothing in that room. It's completely empty. But you just HAVE to have a place where you're not allowed to go, and I guess language is no different.
When you stop to think about it - even having these prohibitions is really quite absurd.The Bible sometimes says things like don't say obscenities or whatever - but the Bible never makes clear what that means.
Let's take one of the common prohibited words like s--t. What is so horrible about a word that it dare not be spoken? Is it because of the meaning? No.
Because I can use the word "crap" freely and wihout prohibition yet it means exactly the same thing as the prohibited word.
Is it because of the context? Again, no.
Because I can literally replace the forbidden word with "crap" in just about every expression where it is found and the context doesn't change. A piece of crap is exactly the same thing as a piece of s--t.
Is it because of what it sounds like? Again, no.
Because there are dozens of words that rhyme with it. Hit, Sit, Mit, Bit, Brit, Flit, Grit, etc. etc.
So why then? Well, there is no "why." It's arbitrary and random.
And you can play this game with every so-called "swear" word we normally use.
Then why are these words so offensive to you? Again, there is no reason. You've just been conditioned to accept these words as being "bad" but you were never told why. Who ever is? You're just not supposed to say them and that's that. Don't think about it, no, no, just obey.
Some might just find them rude or socially unacceptable. Again, that is conditioning and brainwashing. You think they're rude because you were taught they were rude - without explanation, I'm sure. Because we've been putting words on the prohibited list for so long now that no one even knows why these days, least of all your average American with poor critical thinking skills.
Now, I can certainly see why using these words in an insulting way would be considered bad - because the prohibited words carry an emotion that just isn't conveyed using any other word. That's a fact. Therefore, using so-called "swear" words in an insulting context is saying you feel a certain way to its maximum extent. Not good.
But to say them as an exclamation or as an expression of anger or irritation - really - who is it hurting, exactly. Where's the victim? And no, I'm not talking about "ooh, I'm offended" either. I'm talking about real, demonstrable harm.
It's gotten WAY over the top because I wasn't even allowed to use the word "friggin'" which is just a coloquial way of saying "freakin'" which is not a swear/curse/oath of any kind whatsoever and doesn't even appear on the prohibited list. But ... here we go.
Inserting an expletive in just the right place is an artform, not some wicked sin. It's just too bad that some people around here are so intent on controlling everyone else's behavior that the bang on that report button as if they were playing the bongo drums.
I fear the religiously-inspired censorship - which is the very thing I've been warning everyone about regarding theo-fascism - might get too much for me.
And I'm sure this post will get a gazillion reports simply because I was *talking* about "bad" words rather than using them for their intended purpose.
It is a shame...because those words are so effective for emphasis. I like those words...the "F-Word" will probably be the last word I utter before I checkout.
Any objection is just headtrips on the part of those that are hypersensitive and tweaked out over nothing really.
I'm from New Jersey, where the weak are killed and eaten. The F word rolls off my tongue as do a few others with a lot of Ks in them. Plus I was once married to a longshoreman. Though we are long divorced, when we see each other for something related to our daughter, we cheerily depart by wishing each other "F U".
Fortunately, in my current relationship, my S.O. has no idea what a dirty mouth his partner really has and thinks I am sweet and innocent in my verbiage, as I've managed so far to let slip only the occasional four-letter word.
Back when I first started posting on CD, I received a number of infractions, eventually culminating in some extensive time off, for my persistent use of bad language. I honestly didn't realize it was such a big deal, and figured that the filter was going to asterisk them out anyway. CD didn't like that, so I started using alternative spellings.
The last restriction was because of my persistent efforts to avoid the language filter, and my reaction was, "Well, DUH, OF COURSE I am trying to avoid the language filter. If you won't let me use the words I need to use, I have to find another way to get the message across."
Anyway, they won. Mostly.
"Active threads" pulled me over here with the thread title though I wouldn't normally post in religion and spirituality.
Back round 1985, I shared my office at a metro Boston tech startup with a tiny and demure Asian woman. She asked to change offices. Turns out that when I'm totally immersed writing software, I would F-bomb my terminal any time I made a mistake. I'm the type who 100% focuses on things and blocks out the world so I wasn't aware that I had "Programming Tourrete's". I did a bunch of tech startups with my replacement office mate at that job. It's one of his favorite stories about me.
I'm sure I still do it when I'm messing with some kind of home repair. I've always had "Vehicular Tourrete's".
The only profanity I tend to use on message boards as a Massachusetts native is referring to myself as a Massholian. It makes it through the filters and since I always direct it at myself, the mods let it slide.
"Active threads" pulled me over here with the thread title though I wouldn't normally post in religion and spirituality.
Back round 1985, I shared my office at a metro Boston tech startup with a tiny and demure Asian woman. She asked to change offices. Turns out that when I'm totally immersed writing software, I would F-bomb my terminal any time I made a mistake. I'm the type who 100% focuses on things and blocks out the world so I wasn't aware that I had "Programming Tourrete's". I did a bunch of tech startups with my replacement office mate at that job. It's one of his favorite stories about me.
I'm sure I still do it when I'm messing with some kind of home repair. I've always had "Vehicular Tourrete's".
The only profanity I tend to use on message boards as a Massachusetts native is referring to myself as a Massholian. It makes it through the filters and since I always direct it at myself, the mods let it slide.
I'm from New Jersey, where the weak are killed and eaten. The F word rolls off my tongue as do a few others with a lot of Ks in them. Plus I was once married to a longshoreman. Though we are long divorced, when we see each other for something related to our daughter, we cheerily depart by wishing each other "F U".
Fortunately, in my current relationship, my S.O. has no idea what a dirty mouth his partner really has and thinks I am sweet and innocent in my verbiage, as I've managed so far to let slip only the occasional four-letter word.
Back when I first started posting on CD, I received a number of infractions, eventually culminating in some extensive time off, for my persistent use of bad language. I honestly didn't realize it was such a big deal, and figured that the filter was going to asterisk them out anyway. CD didn't like that, so I started using alternative spellings.
The last restriction was because of my persistent efforts to avoid the language filter, and my reaction was, "Well, DUH, OF COURSE I am trying to avoid the language filter. If you won't let me use the words I need to use, I have to find another way to get the message across."
Anyway, they won. Mostly.
In Detroit we really do not care who you are, we just KILL....and donate what's left over to the food bank.
I'm from New Jersey, where the weak are killed and eaten. The F word rolls off my tongue as do a few others with a lot of Ks in them. Plus I was once married to a longshoreman. Though we are long divorced, when we see each other for something related to our daughter, we cheerily depart by wishing each other "F U".
Fortunately, in my current relationship, my S.O. has no idea what a dirty mouth his partner really has and thinks I am sweet and innocent in my verbiage, as I've managed so far to let slip only the occasional four-letter word.
Back when I first started posting on CD, I received a number of infractions, eventually culminating in some extensive time off, for my persistent use of bad language. I honestly didn't realize it was such a big deal, and figured that the filter was going to asterisk them out anyway. CD didn't like that, so I started using alternative spellings.
The last restriction was because of my persistent efforts to avoid the language filter, and my reaction was, "Well, DUH, OF COURSE I am trying to avoid the language filter. If you won't let me use the words I need to use, I have to find another way to get the message across."
Anyway, they won. Mostly.
And now you’re a MOD,home girl...I’m from Jersey too!...
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