Sherry Chandler » The power of taboo
The power of taboo
I sort of cut my wisdom teeth on Lenny Bruce’s How to Talk Dirty and Influence People. Back in the early, early 70s, I even got away with teaching it in freshman comp. So having spent my life thinking that language should be demystified, I am somewhat bemused by the current tendencies toward a return to censorship. In many ways, by putting certain words in taboo, our current crop of Mrs. Grundys are increasing their power.
Poppysmatus has drawn my attention to this article in the NYTimes, “Almost Before We Spoke, We Swore“:
Incensed by what it sees as a virtual pandemic of verbal vulgarity issuing from the diverse likes of Howard Stern, Bono of U2 and Robert Novak, the United States Senate is poised to consider a bill that would sharply increase the penalty for obscenity on the air.
[...]
Yet researchers who study the evolution of language and the psychology of swearing say that they have no idea what mystic model of linguistic gentility the critics might have in mind. Cursing, they say, is a human universal. Every language, dialect or patois ever studied, living or dead, spoken by millions or by a small tribe, turns out to have its share of forbidden speech, some variant on comedian George Carlin’s famous list of the seven dirty words that are not supposed to be uttered on radio or television.
[...]
Some researchers are so impressed by the depth and power of strong language that they are using it as a peephole into the architecture of the brain, as a means of probing the tangled, cryptic bonds between the newer, “higher” regions of the brain in charge of intellect, reason and planning, and the older, more “bestial” neural neighborhoods that give birth to our emotions.
Researchers point out that cursing is often an amalgam of raw, spontaneous feeling and targeted, gimlet-eyed cunning. When one person curses at another, they say, the curser rarely spews obscenities and insults at random, but rather will assess the object of his wrath, and adjust the content of the “uncontrollable” outburst accordingly.
And I will admit that much that passes for swearing these days offends my ears not because it’s lewd, rude, or crude, but because it’s unimaginative and boring. You want to see/hear some good cursing, read Chaucer or Shakespeare.
It’s a long article but a worthwhile read, perhaps, for us wordsmiths. And they do mention that an alternative title for “Much Ado About Nothing” is “Much Ado About an O Thing.” I’ll leave you to interpret that.
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4 Comments
1. Ernie Stamper replies at 20th September 2005, 8:15 pm :
I had read this piece, before you posted it. It has thrown my speech into a fit of coprolalia. Fortunately it does prevent my typing in a civil manner! Good argument for Original Sin, perhaps?
Seriously, in our own lifetimes we have seen words creep into common usage, even when originally vulgarities. I hear words used frequently that I am sure the speaker does not actually know the origin. If this is the case, then acceptance is the result of repetition, and not from relaxing the moral ear! If repetition can do this for words, think what it can do for rape, pillage and murder without clear values. Rant, over!
Ernie
2. sherry replies at 21st September 2005, 9:25 am :
Ranting is allowed here. And I would agree that we need values. However, clear values are not a necessary outcome of censorship.
Not, mind you, that I hold any brief for Howard Stern.
3. Charlie replies at 21st September 2005, 10:00 am :
Truthfully, I’m not sure what is considered foul, or vulgar these days. My father, and my older brothers cursed regularly, as well as most male neighbors I knew growing up. I never heard my sisters, or my Mother never curse. ?? I always thought using foul language harmed no one much, and that the Howard Stern (desire to shock) in all of us was a pretty natural thing. That is, until I got grand children. My children seldom used any type of bad language in front of me, but the precious little angels I call grand children, harbor no such respect.
If anyone out there doesn’t care whether or not their grandchildren curse, please let me know. I just hate to hear kids using foul language, and there can be no doubt where they learn it. From parents, and grand parents. I think this is one thing you can’t blame exclusively on classmates, or the television.
I’m not a psychologist, but from experience I think kids taught to not use bad language won’t use it in mixed company even though they may know plenty of it.
So, getting back to the original subject, it’s not that I think cursing is so bad, the thing I don’t like about it is that it makes a ____ing hypocrite out of me. Charlie
4. Ernie Stamper replies at 22nd September 2005, 8:27 pm :
Sherry, et al,
Do not confuse this rant with thoughts of censorship. My comments here go directly to the values within each of us, and my reference to the “moral ear” was to that of each individual. There is a great risk, however, when utterances are not called to task, that those utterances will become common place, and be used unthinkingly. Those who would refer to hard bargaining as “jewing” are quite likely not considering how truly “not PC” that terminology is in today’s world, were it considered in the full light of its derivation! Many vulgaries (or what originated as a vulgarity) leave me with the same disappointment as an expression that is based in anti-semitism!
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