evolution.
The language evolution aspect is clear ion that the word is becoming more
common in speech. This means as a word it's expanding it's ever widening
usage (pretty soon Webster's is going to need a whole page just for it).
The person who answers "fuckin A" to "how are you doing" either does not
consider the word "bad" (or at least as bad) or is trying to be purposefully
insulting.
The respect issue seems to enter in at least two ways. A person of a
certain age should (you're absolutely correct) know how that word may affect
those around him. Until he ascertains if those he's with will be offended
then common courtesy dictates that he keep that language in his pocket.
But there's also a respect for the language at play. Languages do evolve:
"bad" words become less "bad" through use and other words take their place.
At this stage in its evolution "fuck" is a very bad word - it has power
(although much less than it did). It's the indiscriminate use of the word
that's castrating and will ultimately sanitize the word.
Jim Davis
From: Michael Dinowitz [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, September 09, 2004 1:22 AM
To: CF-Community
Subject: Re: Language today
It's not the lack of respect that gets to me (at least not with this issue),
it's the willful, casual and unthinking usage of the language. It's crept
into
normal usage without anyone thinking of what it means and how/when to use
it. If
someone says Fuck because something they're working on is not going right,
because they're frustrated or something has gone very wrong, then it's
called
for (or worse language). Just using it as a normal part of language without
thought is what upsets me.
"how are you doing?" "fuckin A"
No thought, just thrown out there. But that's the point of all this and a
lot of
my gripes. People don't think. Not about what they say. Not about the
meaning of
their words. Not about their world. Not about anything past
food/money/sex/sleep/doom 3. Language is just a symptom.
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