What's your favorite expletive -- the cuss words you say to yourself? What do you blurt out, when inspired by something infuriating?The first curse words I ever heard were my daddy's. Phonetic spelling -- it was mostly in Hungarian and it sounded like "Himmel-chrise-shucks-bum-donner-vetter-knock-em-al." It sounded great. I practiced saying it to my dolls.
Today, I think, inwardly: "s h i t," or "b a s t a r d." or "g o d d a m m i t." Occasionally I blurt out "f u c k" to shock the person I'm with, to show I'm an up-to-date, with-it person.
I wish more movies were done with nobody using the F word. For me, it belittles the character if he/she uses the F word or S word constantly. Also, m o t h e r f u c k e r.
I hope it's okay to spell these words out when I publish Em'sTalkery each day on Facebook. Yes, despite my "eeks" and "never will I join!" I joined. Having seen (on TV), the fresh-faced Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's founder -- (he looks boyishly wet behind the ears even though he's obviously a shrewd, dictatorial kid ) -- I'm figuring there's no FB ruling that'll get this essay blocked.
Currently, the FCC says you can utter #@%$x! as an adjective, or exclaim it after 10 p.m.
Here's what I learned from an article in Newsweek:
In the early sixties, the FCC got the power to levy fines. They levied the first fine against George Carlin's "seven words you can't say on television." His list included -- Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, Cocksucker, Motherfucker, Tits.
The Supreme Court ruled that FCC could place restrictions on indecent broadcasts. And in the mid nineties, because of "shock jock" Howard Stern's casually obscene remarks, his producer, Infinity Broadcasting, paid $1.7 million in FCC fines.
The FCC fined Telemundo (another producer), for a suggestive hot-tub scene on a variety show, but when Cher said the F word, she got away with it, and when Bono on the Golden Globes said, "Really f -- king brilliant," the FCC didn't take action. (I guess everyone, including the FCC loved Sonny & Cher's television show.)
Radio duo, Opie & Anthony, were fined $357,500 for a segment on having sex in public places like St. Patrick's Cathedral. Clear Channel Broadcasting was fined $755,000 for lewd impressions of Alvin the Chipmunk.
In 2004
, we had the historical revelation during the Superbowl, of Janet Jackson's right breast!CBS paid a $550,000 fine, but got a million dollars worth of publicity for the "accident." (To my eye, the whole thing, including the breast looked fake.)
Anyhow, the FCC ruled that expletives were no longer allowed, which inspired the major channels in 2006, to sue the FCC over expletives. Meanwhile, CBS was fined $3.6 million for a teenage orgy in TV's "Without a Trace."
Finally, this year, the major channels lost their lawsuit -- the Second Circuit Court of Appeals rolled back indecency standards to 1978 levels.
Jeepers creepers -- all this fuss over cussing? Why doesn't any of this refer to movies on TV that are riddled with no-no words/deeds/visions?
How would you vote on this? YES -- stop the expletives, nudity, toilet, sex stuff? Or NO -- the kids hear it anyway -- it's part of our culture now?
How do I vote? I vote NO -- it's part of our culture now. But stop violence. Censor it! I'd okay a quick look at sex, a listen, and even sex talk, but STOP teaching us and our children to enjoy horrifically brutal murder, killing, death, and shocking violence.
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2 comments:
I don't think we should ban the cursing, etc. But we need to do more about educating people not to offend other people. I remember I learned on my job to quickly turn those curse words that were brimming up into my mouth into harmless alternatives. That was good discipline, and made me very conscious about the importance of not offending others.
Em... I am totally with you on this!!!! I deplore violence of any kind...and using expletives just for the sake of it...its totally non productive and teaches kids to be disrespectful.
I will never forget a Saturday morning as a teen, when my father confronted me about something to do with a really low life math teacher that I had and something that that idiot math teacher had told my parents about my work (which was suffering badly because I had this awful teacher) I had lost my interest in what had previously been one of my favorite subjects.
My father came into my room and called me out and said that Mr. ???? had said such and such about my grades...and I said to my father "Mr. ???? can go fuck himself!"
My father slapped my face so hard that my head hurt all day. My father never ever cursed in front of me and was appalled that his daughter would say that.
It taught me a lesson. I am very careful in when and to whom I use bad language.
I enjoy saying "oh shit" when it is the only thing to say in a situation...and on occasion I will say fuck...but I am more than likely to say it only to myself to to someone that i know really well.
There is far too much bad language used far too freely and it is not a good thing ...it shows no respect for other people...and sets a really bad example for children.
As to the over display of body parts that should remain private and seem to be more and more visible these days...again...I think its just plain lacking in good taste. Its one thing to see a work of art like Michaelangelo's "David" and another thing to see way more than I need to see unnecessarily of many of our current celebrities.
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