(January 27, 2014 at 5:11 am)Cinjin Wrote: What exactly is wrong with these words?I don't think there is anything wrong with them. Spoken/written language is the main way we communicate with one another and people will be sensitive to different things. American society has become very sensitive to certain words being used in what is considered an improper context. Using the words "gay" or "retarded" as a pejorative is frowned upon, although neither word is obscene or offensive when used properly. The word "rape" is not obscene but using it in a different context (to describe an impressive victory in a game, for example) can lead to a significant backlash. There are words and contexts we avoid in order to maintain a peaceful (or at least non-volatile) environment.
Swear words are similar for me. It's difficult to know how people are going to react to their use, so I don't use them around people I don't know well enough. I also don't use them around people that I know will find them offensive, unless I am deliberately seeking to offend, which is something I almost never do. There is also context to keep in mind. Swearing during a tense situation might be the match that lights a powder keg. "Calm down, please" may have a very different outcome than "calm the fuck down, already." The swear word by itself can be seen as an escalation.
Many people who know me don't bat an eye when I swear, because they've heard me do so frequently. And many people who know me would be shocked to hear me swear, because I don't do so when they are around. It's not a matter of how wrong/right the words happen to be, as much as a social instinct. If not swearing is the cost of keeping those people around me, they are worth the effort.
"Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape- like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."
-Stephen Jay Gould
-Stephen Jay Gould
