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Today it’s identity slurs that are untouchable, which is an improvement because a lot of those words are legitimately hurtful and really shouldn’t be used casually.
And there are languages like Korean and Japanese where there are no profane words at our level of severity but there are ways of saying things that will end your career, e.g. certain second person pronouns and verb inflections that no one uses these days but are still recognized as viscous attacks.
"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise." - Socrates
From what I've read about Armstrong, absolutely no surprise there.
As someone now who does not curse whatsoever under any circumstance, hearing those around me curse, it literally hurts my ears. I can pick those words out of a crowd like they're being spoken into a speakerphone. Especially being around military people still who curse every few words and just about every single sentence has an F word throw in, it's very uncomfortable.
Same. Never cursed before military. But military stress combined with surrounding fellows cursing made it difficult to filter it out from my own language.
When I hear curse words, they elicit exactly the same emotional response as any other word. There's nothing magical or inherently special about them, it's all in your own psychology.
despite my best efforts, i have never been able to understand why or how swear words are inherently offensive. it just does not click with me. a request like this just seems absolutely ridiculous (especially given the context the offending words were said).
Now, why they react that way is a lot more complicated... Much like why I and many others find the above almost physically painful. My own personal take is that avoiding swearing in public, like avoiding all caps in the Internet, is a matter of courtesy and respect for others. And while I find the discussion of why interesting, ultimately I believe that respect for oneself and others (something I have watched diminish for decades) is a good thing, and ought to be practiced. It's... being a good citizen and fellow human being, I guess.
my comment is entirely about not understanding the why.
There are at least two elements to the answer. One is that people are bothered by it the same way they are by anything painful, disgusting, or damaging. I think that part is clear and not in the least "ridiculous", and is what I was trying to address.
The other gets deeper into thought, language, and human interaction than I can address via a couple spare moments and a phone screen.
I think swearwords are very useful. Both when used of emphasis, comedy or (their original use) venting frustation or pain.
And they have secondary uses as well. When someone swears a lot in inappropriate situations you can tell they are generally inconsiderate persons. And when somebody gets very upset by swearwords you know they are probably overly religious. For both things it's nice the be forewarned ;-P
does the bible or any religious text specifically call out swearing (beyond taking their gods name in vain, which i can understand avoiding if you are religious)?
Depending on the type of profanity it can divide societies by reinforcing social schisms/prejudices. Such words typically cluster around areas of cultural discomfort such as religion, sex, and hygiene, causing polarizing emotional reactions. It's biological as well as cultural.
Seems like the "best and bravest humanity has to offer" can probably represent a little better than that for one of the most significant feats of history.
Says you. I think not swearing obviously indicates a weaker vocabulary since there's a lot of things you can't or won't say.
Of course, swear words can be offensive if you're their target, and I don't really enjoy that side. But they are _very_ effective in communicating frustration, anger, surprise. I think using them brings a bit of spice to life and a well placed "Fuck!" can feel extremely cathartic and... dare I say... pleasant.
this is just made up, though. not a lick of scientific backing to it.
Lack of discipline, maybe. Though that is subjective.
Weak vocabulary, no, that is objectively not true unless someone is repeatedly using a small number of profanities (i.e. someone who uses the F/C bombs and the N & R words, for instance). Studies of online communications have shown the people who use a range of profanity also have a wider vocabulary more generally, wider on average even than those who were not seen to use profanities at all.
Of course this still has some subjective judgement involved: the studies had to define what was considered profane, and may have missed many words only considered bad in a minority of places. I'm not sure what the studies did, if anything, to account for people speaking the target language as a second that they are not fluent in. These could be important factors in correctly defining the “doesn't use them” set.
> It's biological as well as cultural.
Only because there is a biological component to the reaction to the words, which is trained by culture. This could be a programmed disgust reaction, an amused one (a small rush of relevant endorphins), or a fear reaction (where the word is a slur that is often followed by further problems like the threat of physical violence). The closest we come to a truly biological reaction might be words associated with excreta and so forth, the things they can describe carrying a biological risk, but even that is culturally informed (you aren't born knowing that shit means a form of feculence, or that feculence is considered a more polite way to describe something dirty to the point of being unsafe).
What a bizarre leap of logic.
I wonder what disparaging others for using profanity indicates.
i'll bet you $1000 my vocab is wider, deeper, and more sophisticated than yours despite my profuse use of profanity. interested? happily able to provide various standardized tests (SAT/GRE/LSAT/etc.) and/or your preferred method (wordle/crossword/etc.).
Humans curse sometimes. That's what happens to real people in the real world. Astronauts are not some kind of pure, unspoiled demigods. They're regular-ass humans who say things like shit and fuck. Just like approximately everyone else does.
I'd rather the best and brightest among us admit that they're real people just like everyone else than put on a show to protect the delicate sensibilities of a very small number of people who clutch pearls and scream when someone nearby says a "bad word".
Astronauts are people. They have genitals, they walk around nude sometimes. They shit, piss, and fuck just like you and me. You want to deify and make them into false idols for some reason. That is a fundamentally bad and wrong thing to do, and you can directly quote many/most religions on that one.
( https://apollojournals.org/afj/ap10fj/as10-day2-pt9.html )
It can be found in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQVEsfa15SY
"Neil Armstrong on the surface of the fucking moon."