A Rhaspody on Controversial Words....

[shadowkat]

1. Went to a writer's workshop meetup group last night - we sat outside in the heat and humidity for two hours. A couple of people came all the way from Rockland County and Connetituct (which is basically 3-4 hours away), now that I call dedication to your craft or possibly desperation - one or the other. It was okay. The leader of it is rather interesting - he's a playwrite, director, and screenwriter from LA who is trying to write a novel and needs feed-back. He's written 5,000 words on his smartphone which he downloads to his computer. How he does it, not the download - the writing on his smartphone, your guess is better than mine. All I can say is he gives a whole new definition to the term writer's cramp. It's close enough to me - that it makes no sense for me not to go, but am admittedly on the fence. We shall see. Spent a good portion of it discussing what are difficulties are with writing...what stands in our way.

After listening to everyone read their first page, I realized how unconventional my writing style is.

2. Have come to the conclusion that cultural reviews from an increasingly socio-political or politically correct/sociological perspective can be grating. And if not written well, can come across as cloyingly moralistic or shall we say a tad self-righteous?

So will attempt henceforth to not write any. We'll see how long that lasts. I'm anything if not woefully inconsistent.

I'd say schizophrenic, but that adjective annoys people apparently. Someone at the writer's group last night got all nutty over it. This, THIS is the problem with political correctness taken to extremes, we start to go wonky over words.

3. Rhapsody on Words

*Political Correctness applied to language and whether it goes too far. Or actually just a Rhapsody on Words...from bitch to bipolar, from schizophrenic to fuck...with a link to squick thrown in for good measure not to mention the entymology of the word fuck.

Yes, I get that words such as nigga, cunt, dick, fuck, etc...are truly hateful if used in the wrong context. And do count as "hate speech". But language evolves it does not stay static no matter how much you may want it to.

*In the English language, often one word will mean various contradictory things. Take for example the word "bitch".

From the Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitch

Bitch can refer to:
A female dog
Bitch (insult), a pejorative term, usually considered profane
In slang, a complaint
Bitch (magazine)
"Bitch" (short story), by Roald Dahl
BITCH-100, or Black Intelligence Test of Cultural Homogeneity, a psychometric test

Or

bitch (bch)
n.
1. A female canine animal, especially a dog.
2. Offensive
a. A woman considered to be spiteful or overbearing.
b. A lewd woman.
c. A man considered to be weak or contemptible.
3. Slang A complaint.
4. Slang Something very unpleasant or difficult.
v. bitched, bitch·ing, bitch·es Slang
v.intr.
To complain; grumble.
v.tr.
To botch; bungle. Often used with up.

So context is about 90% of it. Same with the word "squick" which someone on the whedonesque board got all hot and bothered about me using once:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=squick (The origin of this word is incredibly gross, suffice it to say, you were warned.)

And here is the various definitions for the terms bi-polar and schizophrenic:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bi%20polar

Bi- polar according to the urban dictionary:

"being nice and sweet one minute and being a total bitch the next"

AND it is also a medical term:

"bi polar is a disorder in which the person has mood swings so hard that it can intterruppt daily life. These mood swings can last for days, weeks, months, and even years."

And this one by the "free dictionary"

bipolar disorder
n.
A psychiatric disorder marked by alternating episodes of mania and depression. Also called bipolar illness, manic-depressive illness.

And the American Heritage Dictionary:

1. Relating to or having two poles or charges.
2. Relating to a device capable of using two polarizations, such as a transistor that uses positive and negative charge carriers.
3. Relating to or involving both of the earth's polar regions
4. Having two opposite or contradictory ideas or natures: Buffy in S6 exhibited bipolar nature.
5. Biology: Having two poles or opposite extremities: a bipolar neturon
6. Of or relating to bipolar disorder.

While we're on mental illness terms, let's look at schizophrenia, shall we?

1 : a psychotic disorder characterized by loss of contact with the environment, by noticeable deterioration in the level of functioning in everyday life, and by disintegration of personality expressed as disorder of feeling, thought (as delusions), perception (as hallucinations), and behavior —called also dementia praecox — compare paranoid schizophrenia
2 : contradictory or antagonistic qualities or attitudes

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/schizophrenia
Or as the Americian Heritage states:

" A situation or condition characterized by conflicting qualities, attitudes, or activities: The national schizophrenia that results from carrying out an unpopular war."

Another interesting word is fuck...and this is rather a rhapsody on the word, its associated meanings, orgin...basically everything you wanted to know regarding the WORD Fuck and were afraid to ask.

[fuhk]   Origin
fuck [fuhk]
verb (used with object)
1. to have sexual intercourse with.
2. Slang . to treat unfairly or harshly.
verb (used without object)
3. to have sexual intercourse.
4. Slang . to meddle (usually followed by around or with ).
interjection
5. Slang . (used to express anger, disgust, peremptory rejection, etc., often followed by a pronoun, as you or it. )
noun
6. an act of sexual intercourse.
7. a partner in sexual intercourse.
8. Slang . a person, especially one who is annoying or contemptible.
9. the fuck, Slang . (used as an intensifier, especially with WH-questions, to express annoyance, impatience, etc.)
Verb phrases
10. fuck around, Slang .
a. to behave in a frivolous or meddlesome way.
b. to engage in promiscuous sex.
11. fuck off, Slang .
a. to shirk one's duty; malinger.
b. go away: used as an exclamation of impatience.
c. to waste time.
12. fuck up, Slang .
a. to bungle or botch; ruin.
b. to act stupidly or carelessly; cause trouble; mess up.
Idiom
13. give a fuck, Slang . to care; be concerned (usually used in the negative): When it comes to politics, I really don't give a fuck.

Now to the origins..
Origin: 1495–1505; akin to Middle Dutch fokken to thrust, copulate with, Swedish dialect focka to copulate with, strike, push, fock penis
[Oh, we can blame the Dutch and Swedish for this one, cool. ]

Wiki doesn't agree:


Its first known use as a verb meaning to have sexual intercourse is in "Flen flyys", written around 1475.

William Dunbar's 1503 poem "Brash of Wowing" includes the lines: "Yit be his feiris he wald haue fukkit: / Ye brek my hairt, my bony ane" (ll. 13–14).

John Florio's 1598 Italian-English dictionary, A Worlde of Wordes, included the term, along with several now-archaic, but then vulgar synonyms, in this definition:

Fottere: To jape, to sard, to fucke, to swive, to occupy.

Of these, "occupy" and "jape" still survive as verbs, though with less profane meanings, while "sard" was a descendant of the Anglo-Saxon verb seordan (or seorðan, While Shakespeare never used the term explicitly; he hinted at it in comic scenes in a few plays. The Merry Wives of Windsor (IV.i) contains the expression focative case (see vocative case). In Henry V (IV.iv), Pistol threatens to firk (strike) a soldier, a euphemism for fuck. Interesting, he certainly used other...somewhat bawdy terms.]

Though it appeared in John Ash's 1775 A New and Complete Dictionary, listed as "low" and "vulgar," and appearing with several definitions,[10] fuck did not appear in any widely-consulted dictionary of the English language from 1795 to 1965. Its first appearance in the Oxford English Dictionary (along with the word cunt) was in 1972. There is anecdotal evidence of its use during the American Civil War.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuck

However...the online etymology dictionary postulates the following:

Etymonline
Word Origin & History

fuck
a difficult word to trace, in part because it was taboo to the editors of the original OED when the "F" volume was compiled, 1893-97. Written form only attested from early 16c. OED 2nd edition cites 1503, in the form fukkit; earliest appearance of current spelling is 1535 -- "Bischops ... may fuck thair

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Now regarding usage and related forms...

Related forms
fuck·y, adjective [ Really? Fucky is a word? Good to know.]

Usage note: The word fuck and some of its derivatives have increasingly crept into casual use, not only as expletives of shock, horror, or anger—or even pleasant surprise—but as verbal tics, indices of mere annoyance or impatience: Where are my fucking keys? What the fuck do you want now? Yet for many people, the word remains vulgar, improper, and utterly taboo.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.


Collins World English Dictionary appears to somewhat agree with this sentiment:

|
Collins
World English Dictionary
fuck (fʌk)
usage The use and overuse of fuck in the everyday speech of many people has led, to some extent, to a lessening of its impact as an expletive. However, the word still retains its shock value, although it is less now than it was when the critic Kenneth Tynan caused controversy by saying it on British television in 1965

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009

As does the Slang Dictionary:

Slang Dictionary
fuck definition
tv. & in.
to copulate [with] someone. (Taboo. Usually objectionable. It should be noted that English does not have a one-word, standard, transitive verb for this act. All expressions with the same meaning are phrases, slang, or colloquial. See the complete list of all entries with fuck in the Index of Hidden Key Words.) : They want to fuck all night.

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.

On acronymes, both American Heritage and Wiki agree that Fuck is not one and if you say it is, you are wrong.

American Heritage
Abbreviations & Acronyms

fuck
The claim that fuck is an acronym is demonstrably false. It is an old word of Germanic origin.

The American Heritage® Abbreviations Dictionary, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.

Go here for the source: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fuck

Wiki decides to go into more depth and explain why this is wrong and not be so abrupt about it. Wiki is anything if not diplomatic about such things, after all. (Well in most cases at any rate.)

One reason that the word fuck is so hard to trace etymologically is that it was used far more extensively in common speech than in easily traceable written forms. There are several urban-legend false etymologies postulating an acronymic origin for the word. None of these acronyms was ever recorded before the 1960s, according to the authoritative lexicographical work The F-Word, and thus are backronyms. In any event, the word fuck has been in use far too long for some of these supposed origins to be possible. Some of these urban legends are that the word fuck came from Irish law. If a couple were caught committing adultery, they would be punished "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge In the Nude", with "FUCKIN" written on the stocks above them to denote the crime. A similar variant on this theory involves the recording by church clerks of the crime of Forbidden Use of Carnal Knowledge. Another theory is that of a royal permission. During the Black Death in the Middle Ages, towns were trying to control populations and their interactions. Since uncontaminated resources were scarce, many towns required permission to have children. Hence, the legend goes, that couples that were having children were required to first obtain royal permission (usually from a local magistrate or lord) and then place a sign somewhere visible from the road in their home that said "Fornicating Under Consent of King", which was later shortened to "FUCK". This story is hard to document, but has persisted in oral and literary traditions for many years; however, it has been demonstrated to be an urban legend.

Lovely history this word has, don't you think? I rather like the word. It has so many uses and meanings. And people react to it as if you smacked them. It's a fighting word. If words can pack a wallop, fuck does. Think of it...you know you really pissed someone off if they use the word fuck in their response. The moment they sink to that word, without using any euphemisms...you broke them. Particularly if it is a normally polite person who never curses.

Fuck.

It's also amongst the most censored words in the English language. You can get fired for using this word. Kicked for using it. Slapped. Called names. Oh..think of the power behind it. The word FUCK has far more power than even the word power packs.

I love words. Words...are beautiful things. Once you get the hang of them. Would be nice if I could figure out the words in a language other than the one of my birth. I don't count French...my ability to use French words border on the ridiculous. I can barely read it, let alone speak or write it. Oh how I envy people with a facility for language, it's a gift they take for granted.

Comments

[norwie2010.livejournal.com]

Political Correctness as a concept was introduced to fight the oppression created by language.

Thing is, the oppression incorporated PC into it's system to oppress (insert essay about systems tending to the totalitarian. Every system tries to survive).

So it is divided: On the one hand, we have oppressive language and PC trying to counter that - on the other hand, PC itself has become part of oppression. It is a fine line to actively change language to break up/dismantle sexism, racism, classism and policing language to take away the people's ability to think and express themselves (See: Orwell's Newspeak).

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

True. The problem is extremes. Sigh. People are such extremists, aren't they? Language can be used in an oppressive manner, but banning language or restricting its use is equally oppressive.

Taking the extreme PC view of banning a word either from your discussion board (I think Buffy Cross and Stake moderator tried to ban the word rape from theirs - which is why we ended up with the term "AR" scene. LOL! People will come up with euphemisms) or the lexicon in general - does become oppressive. You are taking away someone else's right to free speech.

It's what we like to call "the slippery slope" argument. Go too far one way and you infringe on individual rights. OR as you state - Orwell's Newspeak. You begin to manipulate how others speak and then how they think. Which depending on the word...can seem like a good thing initially. It depends.

Hate speech is a constant fight in the US Supreme Court - there are a few words that have been termed as "hate speech" and banned from specific use in certain arenas. They can't ban them completely of course. Just how they are used. In fact the Supreme Court's opinions make a point of emphasizing how the word is used, or the context, and the level of pain that results. You can't punish someone for saying, "hey Nigga", you can however punish them for writing in big blood letters "Nigger Go Home" on your car.

There are a couple of "popular media blogs" that fit Orwell's Newspeak model. They are basically guerilla marketing or media manipulation. They manipulate the people who traffic them into thinking a certain way, buying certain products and viewing the world in a certain manner. They set certain rules, rules that censor how people write, but couch it with "good intentions" - "we want to create a safe haven".

Ironically? The best discussion board I was ever on - was the ATPO Board, the board moderator hated censorship in all forms, she also hated conflict, so avoided many threads and never engaged. She rarely deleted or banned threads. She treated people like adults and surprisingly enough they acted like adults, well most of the time. I haven't been on another "public" discussion board that came close to that one.

[embers-log.livejournal.com]

I learned something new on my long hot drive to Chicago yesterday: evidently 'dork' was a word for a whale's penis.... it was probably a commonly used word back in the whaling days (it has that Ye Olde English sound to it!)

I can understand people who are dealing with mental illness and/or mental retardation in their own family/friend/life situations wanting to remove words from the public usage of insult.... it doesn't mean I am PC, or that I don't frequently over-use those terms....
OTOH I do think that a lot of people who haven't been diagnosed can and do show some symptoms of various/misc mental illnesses (I do believe my Mother was manic/depressive)

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I can understand people who are dealing with mental illness and/or mental retardation in their own family/friend/life situations wanting to remove words from the public usage of insult.... it doesn't mean I am PC, or that I don't frequently over-use those terms..

I don't believe I stated otherwise? Did I? No, my point was that the context the word is being used is important. Often an un-careful reader will misinterpret context, or all they will see is the word itself and not the context at all.

The internet unfortunately has a lot of people on it who have poor reading comprehension skills. They read too fast, or just skip over sentences...sort of like:

Buffy appears to be acting bi-polar in this instance, by that I mean her emotions are at polar opposites or different extremes.

A person skimming or with poor reading comprehension skills sees:

Buffy .....acting BIPOLAR.

And they are offended. But they did NOT comprehend the sentence.

Its not the same as someone saying...Buffy appears to be acting like a complete dork. Or Buffy is totally bipolar, that's the only thing that would explain her nasty behavior towards Spike. (Which is offensive, because that attributes the term to "mean" behavior and insults people with the disorder.)

Context is EVERYTHING. Another better example?

My writing style changes constantly, it is noir one minute, and literary the next. Yes, I'm a bit "schizophrenic". (The writer of the sentence is using the term to describe contradictory behavior which is a meaning of the term schizophrenic - see the dictionary entries above. Why would you be offended by that?) If however she said, Charlie is so schizophrenic...he beats his wife one day then embraces her the next - then yes, in that context it may well be a bit insulting. Yet still using that meaning. Another better example of how schizophrenic is used in insulting way? You are schizophrenic, I can't trust you at all.

It depends on how it is used. Removing the word or banning it - is silly. That's a bit like throwing the baby out with the proverbial bath water - and it is extreme behavior. (sigh, People are such extremists...drives me nuts. And yes, nuts is considered offensive by some - but we should be allowed to say we feel crazy, without insulting someone who is mentally ill. ) Besides how many words are we going to ban? Rape? Rape apologist? Rape sympathizer? Misogynist?
Racist? Fuck? Shit? Suck? Dick? I can go on...you begin to see the slippery slope that banning or removing a word from the lexicon or a site or discourse represents? You are infringing on someone else's right to communicate their views - to what degree can you infringe, without shutting them up and making it so they can't explain?

The problem with life is you will always offend someone. It's impossible not to. People are wonky about things. What upsets one person, won't upset another.

I have a lot of friends and family members who are bi-polar or the term I prefer is manic-depressive. More precise. I'm dyslexic, people use that term in insulting ways all the time - I shrug it off. It's a word. Banning it would lead down a slope that I don't want to go down.