Tempy

A day by day and often hourly account of a temp

Monday, August 27, 2007

Cursed

In trying to find a way to describe shamed ex-attorney general Alberto Gonzales for this blog entry, I began to think in depth about curse words. I mean, the majority of them stem from "shameful" body parts or sex acts. Take such insults as "asshole","dick" and "douchebag"- all related to bodily activity. You wouldn't call someone an "earwax" or "goosebump" so therefore the "curse" of it comes from the dirty connotation it carries.

Wikipedia defines profanity as "a word, expression, gesture, or other social behavior which is socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude or vulgar." But what's up with the body parts?

Now, I love a good curse word. When used correctly, the term "gash" can be the cause of much amusement. But I can just imagine the genesis of this, like some naughty, giggling group of 15th century nobles jokingly referring to someone as "that place where the poopie comes from". Even Shakespeare had a clever, intellectually veiled chortle by making a reference to "country matters" in Hamlet. (Get it? Cunt).

Which brings me back to this: Aren't we beyond the "naughty parts" humor? We lived through the 70's, people. Steven and Elyse Keaton made out in front of everyone enough on Family Ties that we get it. People have sex.

For better or worse, these are the words that are in our lexicon. And as much as I don't agree with calling someone a boob, I guess it's just the way it is.

Dick.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home

Blog Directory - Blogged