Quote of the Month
Stephen Fry: If an alien was looking down on us and inspecting our language they would see the worst things we do on this planet is we torture, we kill, we abuse, we harm people, we’re cruel, and those are the things of which we should be ashamed.
Among the best things we do is we breed children, we raise them, we make love to each other, we adore each other, we are affectionate and fond of each other.
How odd the language for the awful things is used casually all the time, ‘oh the traffic was agony’,’it was hell’, ‘it was cruel’, ‘it was torture waiting in line’ You use words like torture? That’s the worst word.
Yet if you use the F word, which is the word for generating the species, for showing physical affection to one another, then we’re taken off the air and accused of being wicked,and irresponsible and a bad influence to children.
Now we’re part of this culture so we often don’t question it, but if you think of someone from outside… it is very strange.
Craig Ferguson: We are very weird fuckers indeed.
From the most excellent late show with Craig Ferguson (youtube).
There was a riff on that in the Sci Fi novel “The Host”. Set in a near future, sex was talked about openly and “rape” was the worst word you could say.
A law professor recently published a book about the word “fuck” analyzing its taboo status both linguistically and legally. It’s a really fun and quick read, yet quite scholarly at the same time.
“Fuck: Word Taboo and Protecting our First Amendment Liberties” by Christopher M. Fairman
Except common use of the F word actually reflects the abuse, harm, cruel side of the spectrum. WTF? Go F yourself. That’s F’d up. Hardly loving words.