Post by Chips on Jun 10, 2008 10:55:45 GMT 9.5
Cursed unfairly to be dashed invisible
Bev Conolly
June 10, 2008
HECKLER
EFF-DASH-DASH-DASH. You know the word I mean. That … word, that loathsome, grunted syllable, so hideous that television couldn't possibly allow it to be spoken on commercial airwaves and newspapers dare not print its name without the deletion of at least its vowel.
That four-letter monstrosity so beloved by adolescents and Hollywood filmmakers, and yet so vile that its mere spelling in full in the print media would risk the innocent souls of the readership at large. It's the Word That Cannot Be Acknowledged.
Effing hell. What century is this again?
How is it possible that a single utterance in such common use can be so repugnant that we can only hint at its existence? Etymologies suggest it's been in part of English for hundreds of years, so you have to at least admire its staying power. Why must we pretend to avert our eyes when encountering it in newspapers and magazines, as if our purse-lipped granny was reading over our collective shoulder? Isn't it time we agreed that the F-word exists?
Once upon a time, I'm told, the word "bloody" was similarly disemvowelled, regarded as too coarse, too crude, to allow into print, though I doubt today's 12-year-olds would believe that. Maybe there are a few readers with delicate sensibilities who are, even today, outraged by encountering that swear word, but in general, the morals of the community remained rock solid, even when we endured the full spelling of the word formerly known as "b----y".
The pillars of society hardly trembled a decade ago when the word "bullshit" appeared in full in news stories, usually contained in a quote. (You see? You read it and lived. You coped.) Somehow, printing a word considered taboo did not cause civilisations to crumble.
And yet, the victimisation of poor "f---" goes on. It's blatant word discrimination.
I'm not suggesting for a moment that newspapers should print gratuitous farks and fargins, no matter how hilarious the subsequent headlines might appear. I'm not that big on swearing, myself. Not when there are so many laughable substitute curse words to use instead. Jeepers, no. Heck, banana oil like that will land us in a whole heap of crud.
But let's stop pretending That Word doesn't exist. To those who disagree, you may join the far queue.
Bev Conolly
June 10, 2008
HECKLER
EFF-DASH-DASH-DASH. You know the word I mean. That … word, that loathsome, grunted syllable, so hideous that television couldn't possibly allow it to be spoken on commercial airwaves and newspapers dare not print its name without the deletion of at least its vowel.
That four-letter monstrosity so beloved by adolescents and Hollywood filmmakers, and yet so vile that its mere spelling in full in the print media would risk the innocent souls of the readership at large. It's the Word That Cannot Be Acknowledged.
Effing hell. What century is this again?
How is it possible that a single utterance in such common use can be so repugnant that we can only hint at its existence? Etymologies suggest it's been in part of English for hundreds of years, so you have to at least admire its staying power. Why must we pretend to avert our eyes when encountering it in newspapers and magazines, as if our purse-lipped granny was reading over our collective shoulder? Isn't it time we agreed that the F-word exists?
Once upon a time, I'm told, the word "bloody" was similarly disemvowelled, regarded as too coarse, too crude, to allow into print, though I doubt today's 12-year-olds would believe that. Maybe there are a few readers with delicate sensibilities who are, even today, outraged by encountering that swear word, but in general, the morals of the community remained rock solid, even when we endured the full spelling of the word formerly known as "b----y".
The pillars of society hardly trembled a decade ago when the word "bullshit" appeared in full in news stories, usually contained in a quote. (You see? You read it and lived. You coped.) Somehow, printing a word considered taboo did not cause civilisations to crumble.
And yet, the victimisation of poor "f---" goes on. It's blatant word discrimination.
I'm not suggesting for a moment that newspapers should print gratuitous farks and fargins, no matter how hilarious the subsequent headlines might appear. I'm not that big on swearing, myself. Not when there are so many laughable substitute curse words to use instead. Jeepers, no. Heck, banana oil like that will land us in a whole heap of crud.
But let's stop pretending That Word doesn't exist. To those who disagree, you may join the far queue.