Wanna take a short questionnaire?

Just wish I knew this at 18 and not 65 :-)

Jack McH

 

Well, for my age group, you could either cheat, or guess based on these clues:

I was a victim of 'Maggie Thatcher Milk Snatcher', I was familiar with the bizarre and pointless concept of the four minute warning, I have a beard, I can still climb trees, although not quite as fast as I once could, once of my earliest memories is of me handing over 6 pence for a bag of chips, which I'd tie to the back of my bike before cycling home.

My view is that women swearing is marginally worse than men swearing. I know that's totally unfair, but I guess its how I was raised.

 

Survey Done

 

Is that it , do we not get a Mars bar, or a mori poll leaflet or somat ?

Sheesh

Jack McH

 

We are waiting for guidance from Michael G, the guy who started the thread I expect. I'm going back to potting up and tying in clematis.
Bye bye
Jenny namaste

 

Sorry for the delayed answer, I have been quite busy these days, and I do not always get answer notifications by email, but here I am!

First,

Thank you Sparra for taking the questionnaire.

Then,

I see what you mean, and I basically agree that the ideas that words like "rape", "war" and many others convey are way worse than the "F-word", but anyway, the point is that we would all react differently if we heard "war" on television than if we heard "c**t" for example, and it is the whole point I would like to insist on...

Even if I do not believe that this has to be considered "the norm", swearing on stand ups (not sure if this can be pluralized...) can add some effects, but I think this has to be moderated. There are a few humorists in France who based their whole careers and sketches on a considerable amount of profanity and swear words. I can find it funny, but very often believe this is too much, and loses power.
Interestingly, these humorists are all men, and the few women I have seen performing stand ups this way were all immediately stigmatized and disliked by the audience.

Now the question is, do you think you would be as succesful as a humorist if you stopped using swear words? I am sure you would...

That is the view most people share, and this probably due to the way we were raised, but society does not help to stop such a dichotomy. Even if things are changing and slowly evolving towards a more balanced status of men and women, we still see a lot of ads and TV shows "advising" how to behave when you are a woman or a man... However, I have the feeling that women are nowadays a lot less stigmatized when they swear than a few generations ago, at least by youngest generations. However, this is probably because swearing itself is more casual than before, which brings a more balanced status of women and men, (at least as far as speech is concerned) but a more rough way of speaking... This is probably a good thing for feminists, but a bad one for linguists, and a real mess for feminist linguists... ; )

I'm not a guru... ; )
Actually, I am the one who needs guidance here, otherwise I would not have requested your participation! And as I can see, you do not need my help to discuss your linguistic experiences. If you have anything you would like to discuss, not necessarily directly related to profanity and gender, just feel free to do so...

However, the point I would really like to deepen, is the reccurent words used by women and men when swearing... I have already asked you about it, and this may feel like déjà-vu, but one of the most striking points in the survey is that about 18% of the women report using "bloody", and absolutely NO man reports using it. On the other hand, about 18% of the men report using the "C-word", which is about twice as much as women who report using it. The first theory which came to me was that "bloody" is a religious word, which as we said, is a category of swear words which considerably lost of their impact, so women may, consciously or not, feel that these kinds of words may enable them to swear, without being to "shocking", that is to say, without being to unfeminine. The same applies with men, they may use the "C-word" because they believe that they, as men, have a certain right to use "the most disliked" of English swear words to assert themselves...

All this is detailed very quickly and may seem a little empirical, but it is just to roughly describe this possibility without entering in too many details and write a three pages post...

So what do you think of these data?

Thank you.

Michaël

 

Thank you Michael. Worthy of reading.
That word "bloody". I only use it when I'm really angry and it saves me from boiling over! I think swear words are useful in such circumstances and I wonder whether devout nuns say it when the Lord doesn't listen enough! You can't stop hearing it in your mind . Do they feel guilty if they hear it in their minds even though they might not say it out loud?

 

Interesting question, we should ask the next nun or monk we encounter...

More seriously, I think that religion is more a matter of profound belief and respect than one of appearance, like "if I act correctly, but think the opposite, this will still be OK". Having immoral thoughts is probably as bad for them as acting immoraly, so hearing profane words, even if it is only in their minds is probably as "bad" as if they uttered it out loud... In practice then, they should feel guilty, but what are the facts? It is a question which would probably be hard to answer, since religious people willing to admit such things are probably not that many...

 

Well I am the product/BLACK SHEEP of a Bible Bashing family

When a child, apart from Sunday School in the morning Grandfather had a Pulpit in the front parlour of his home
After Sunday dinner, we all had to assemble in the front room for prayers, lectures, sermons and hymns at 17:00 the children were excused the further hour

Apart from the grand parent age elders, mum dad and aunties uncles
ALL half swore with words like after hitting a thumb with an hammer
Oh jimminy or Oh Christopher Columbus
OR in my mums case the ghastly Oh bugger

Grandfather an Opthalmic surgeon and optician owned several shops around the NE and Yorkshire, and although home was Sunderland, he lived away in a flat above his main shop in Leeds, arriving home Sundays, at holidays and bank holidays

Visiting him on school holidays, with my parents, there were always good meals on our arrival, excellent rice puddings etc
His flat was amazing, Green tiled sunken bath, a shower and huge opulent bedroom

I was now aged 20 and in the Royal Navy, When I found out, that his secretary fourty years younger, had an illegitimate child to him, and they were living together as man and wife, she had prepared the meals and legged it before we arrived, staying in the Queens Hotel Leeds for the weekend :-)

The family were shocked to be introduced to their STEP SISTER at Grans funeral
He then married his secretary, and when he died she inherited the lot, seven shops, the house and architect built bungalow

The family got NOWT

As a Matelot I find it hilarious, of all the Sundays spent with him banging the pulpit with his fist, white mustache and beard stating the ten comandments
"Though shalt not commit Adultery" That is when he remembered where he had parked his bike :-)

Oh Jimminey

Told you I had a rich and knowlegable Life :-)

Jack McHammocklashing

 

A wonderful tale Jack. Nowt as queer as folk is there..... Look forward to the next chapter. Please keep on telling 'em

 

I do not do it intentionally, just when replying to posts, the memories kick in, and I go on a ramble or rant :-)

Before I leave the forums I may tell the story about my exploits/accident in Mombassa
:-)

Jack McH

 

Moi none
It was not me
My adventure was in 69, No lets say late 69 :-)

Jack McH

 

We have a 'comedian' in the UK that goes by the name of Jo Brand. She swears, but that's not why I find her awful. I find her awful because she appears to me to hold all men in contempt for no reason other than gender.

We also have a slightly vulgar comic by the name of Sarah Millican, who swears and jokes about 'un-ladylike' things. She is fairly new on the scene but is gaining popularity rapidly with her 'working class, down to earth' humour.

My point is that swearing comics is not exclusive to men. Comedy is only ever funny if people can relate to it. Jokes about someone missing the 18th hole at the golf course because a man spilt his pimms after being startled by the passing fox hunt just have no effect, no matter how it is worded, but jokes about everyday events in Primark or Aldi using a language that everyone is familiar with is going to strike a note with a lot of people, and it doesn't matter whether its a bloke or a woman that's making the observation.