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I think this might be better dealt with here in the forum, rather than calling the show.
For some time now, I have been thinking about calling in about one of my pet-peeves. Now, having heard it used by both a caller and yourselves, I feel that I must do so. Towards the end of your 6/2/07 podcast (I was catching up on old ones that I had missed) a caller asked a question in reference to "The 'F' word". As the conversation drew on, I sank deeply into dispair.
Don't get me wrong! I, as much as anyone, consider this particular word to be as distasteful; I agree that it should be avoided in polite conversation. Furthermore, found your answers informative and interesting.
What bothered my was the use of the phrase "The 'F' word". This construct, along with it's many siblings such as "The 'N' word", drive me to distraction.
Personally, if I am speaking ABOUT such a word, I prefer to use the word itself, rather than a euphemism.
I understand the power of these words and the offensiveness that they convey. But I also believe that to dance around them when EVERYBODY knows what you're talking about in the first place only gives them greater power.
I am sure that any fan of the Harry Potter series can appreciate the metaphor of "He who must not be named". This was a phrase used by those who shrunk in fear. Those who gained the personal power to stand up against the evil wizard consistently stopped using this phrase and called Voldemort by his proper name.
I appreciate the reality of doing a radio show with censors and network standards dictating what words you can say on a broadcast. I have even avoided using such words in this message because I know that many forums automatically edit them out.
I just find it sad to see even African-American civil rights leaders being too timid to say "The 'N' word" when decrying it's use, and liguists forced to use a euphemism when having a learned discussion of a word that has been in our language for centuries.
I hope that I have not offended anyone with this, my first message to the forum.
The Daily Show offered a wonderful parody of this very issue:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=84493&title=n-word
Fear not: although this was initially aired uncensored, the web version has been bleeped (tragically, IMHO).
The CBC radio show And Sometimes Y had a show about taboo words on which they touched on the N-word, C-word, and F-word, featuring some of my former Oxford University Press coworkers. Unfortunately, only a few segments of the show are available for online listening and not as a single download.
Our other colleagues at Language Log also have some commentary on "N-word":
I am definitely in agreement here. In fact, the whole concept of a "bad word" is just loathsome. The only "power" words have is the power we give them by treating them with such awe and fear.
I'm not saying I go around shouting these words or anything; I'm not out to offend people. But at the same time, I have little sympathy for people complaining about having been offended by a word. I mean, why is an n, and i, two g's, an e, and an r so horrible when strung together? Why isn't "gregin" equally bad? The answer of course is that the word has been used for hundreds of years to convey hatred and bigotry...but isn't the problem in this case the hatred and bigotry, and not the word?
I like thinking of the analogy of "bad words" as bullets. A victory for people who want to "ban" a word (if that were feasible) would only succeed in destroying a bullet. Is that going to stop people from shooting you with some other bullet? This kind of effort is not only unfeasible, it's self-defeating. Going to such extraordinary lengths just makes the word that much more "powerful." What a perfect choice for someone who really wants to offend people.
Anyway, like I said, I don't go out of my way to use words like that, and I'm never going to use them in front of my grandparents or anything. A friend of mine said the two rules he lives by are "Try not to take offense" and "Try not to offend." I believe they firmly belong in that order as well. You can't control what will offend people, but you can control what offends you, and that, therefore, should be your priority.
I heard someone complain that "gal" is now an offensive term, though I have never anything in the way of an explanation. What is to be the acceptable opposite of "guy" now? There are enough things in the world by which we can legitimately be offended; why go around inventing more?
When my son was in his early teens and beginning to listen to popular music, I told him that I didn't care what words were used in a song. Rather, I encouraged him to pay attention to the message and then choose whether it was something to which he should listen.
While some would consider this overly permissive, it turns out that my son (now a freshman in college) uses far less profanity than his old man!
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
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