<p>Xiggi…you’re using fancy fonts and colors…tsk, tsk, not like you! j/k :D</p>
<p>CGM…I’ve given up…I don’t think you get that the use of profanity is a personal choice but there is a time and place for it in case others are offended. We don’t care if you use it. I also use it. But I certainly don’t use it in the company of those who would be offended or publicly amongst those whom I do not know. As, well, the point has also been made that it is not just the words per se, but how they are used, in what context. Using them to attack others or to name call is considered offensive. Ya know, even on CC that is against the Terms of Service. I wonder why? Because we have lots of readers here who would be offended by profanity AND also CC doesn’t allow personal attacks. So, these standards of “behavior” are pretty common.</p>
<p>However, I am curious now that poetsheart posted the question about Bush. So, let me ask CGM…say W is giving a public speech…are you OK if he refers to Osama as a “B - - TARD”, for example? What if he responds to a reporter in a press conference and says, “Shut the F up!”…on TV too. What 'cha think of that idea? OK? </p>
<p>You see, for me, this is not about my politics. I can be liberal (and I am) but say that Barbra should not have used the F word toward the audience member but told them to either stop or the show would not continue until security took him out, or something to that effect without resorting to “shut the F up!” I like her. I may even agree with her politics, but she shouldn’t have said this. Now, the Columbia students who were obviously liberal…I’m liberal but I think what they did was wrong and posted that on the thread on that topic. The speakers were invited to speak. They had no right preventing them from speaking. They had other means to be heard. They were wrong. </p>
<p>Some people are so diehard about their political persuasion that they lean to that side NO MATTER the topic, no matter who was involved, etc. Me? I lean a certain way in general but I weigh each person, each topic or issue, depending on that situation, not just because I am a liberal. </p>
<p>Kluge…how about Barbra AND Rush in the Lincoln bedroom…now there’s an image for ya. :eek:</p>
<p>I’m not judging you for using profanity. I use it on occasion myself. I’m saying there is a time and place and that you MUST be sensitive to others around you who would be offended or made uncomfortable by such usage that is generally not considered polite vernacular. Let me ask you, can your children get up in class and tell another kid to " F off you B - -CH!" and get away with it? I doubt it. Do you understand why they can’t? They can chat among their family or friends who use such language but they can’t direct it offensively to others AND in certain settings. Is that a hard concept? It is part of social mores. I’m not judging you. But it is important to know where such language is appropriate and in which context.</p>
<p>cgm, I think the horse is dead. People have different levels of tolerance and acceptance for many different things, language usage and profanity being just one. I think that civilized discourse for anyone, liberal or conservative, would not include profanity. Many people, myself included, use profanity when they are angry or exasperated but many do not. It’s not something that bothers me, when others use profanity, but I realize that it bothers others and I don’t think it’s that difficult to understand. I only use it when I’m alone and maybe trip over the dog for the tenth time while unloading the dishwasher, or while I’m driving. I don’t think this makes me a horrible person, less moral, or with lower standards than others, nor do I think it makes me better, or more accepting, or ANYthing really.</p>
<p>Yes, some people don’t like it, and they have that right! I’m not sure why you’re so surprised about that. I must say that I chuckled when you mentioned the Irish connection in one of your posts because it immediately reminded me of the movie The Commitments, one of my favorites, which is an Irish film and the language is peppered with that word, the name of which we shouldn’t say. :)</p>
<p>Soozie, using good judgment and judging decisions is natural and correct. It produces order and harmony. Judging behavior is not something to avoid. We teach our kids to use good judgment.</p>
<p>That is one part of political correctness that needs to be truncated.</p>
<p>Yes, if it is you who is on the receiving end of judgment it’s not comfortable. Guilt does not feel good. However, it could save your life. I can think of several things that would be better if society simply came out and said ‘No - that’s bad for you!’.</p>
<p>However, this could be just a judgment call. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>No way am I touching this topic – I just popped in here to respond to the post questioning why the word is considered vulgar when other words referring to intercourse are not. I was taught (by my mom, who told me everything!) that it is an onomatopoeia - that is, it “imitates the sound it represents.” Making sounds of bodily functions is considered vulgar by many people. Apparently, if she’d said, “Shut the intercourse up” people wouldn’t have responded the same, but would instead be questioning her literacy. </p>
<p>Speaking of my mom’s explanations, I remember her calmly explaining to some neighborhood boys why she couldn’t possibly be the “mother-f-” they had just called her. ;)</p>
<p>Still didn’t answer my question, CGM (or Suzie’s, for that matter). Are you honestly saying that you wouldn’t engage in your usual mode of knee-jerk partisanship, but instead, give GWB a pass if he told someone in the press corp to, “shut the F-up?” Really? Heck, I bet if he simply demanded that the person, “be quiet!”, you would be all over it, like a Texan on a pork chop, excoriating the man for trying to strip away someone’s “right to free speech”, calling it yet more proof of what a “danger” he poses to America and the world. </p>
<p>And as for Tobey Keith, you know as well as I do (along with just about everybody else on these forums familiar with your postings) that you would castigate him for so blatantly and inappropriately pushing the Bush agenda during one of his concerts, thereby alienating and angering a “paying fan”, when he should just be doing what he’s good at (“which obviously isn’t politics”). You would say that that heckling audience member had “every right” to be offended by the way Keith hyjacked his audience under the guise of entertainment, that he was “right” to call Toby out on such an outrageous breach of trust. </p>
<p>Ok, it’s probably too much to ask for you to admit to that. But, how about answering this question: Which would you rather do, stick a fork in your eye, or admit that a viewpoint counter to your own might—just might—actually be correct?</p>
<p>Hey…where I’m from, I’d go with ‘like a Texan on a tamale’! :-)</p>
<p>My dad, God rest his soul, had issues with profanity. We were from a little single traffic light farming town and one night, he took my mom to the ‘picture show’ in the next town over. You have to get a mental picture of him… a big, tall Texan; cowboy boots, western shirt and vest; and head full of thick white hair and a white beard he had grown for Texana Days. While they were standing in line to buy tickets, a couple of kids behind my parents were loudly cussing a blue streak…‘F*** this, F<strong><em>that, F</em></strong>, F<strong><em>, F</em></strong>,etc…’ My dad finally had a gutful and turned around and said “I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t use that language in front of my wife.” The kids were shocked into silence…for a moment. And then they started laughing “hohoho…Merry Christmas Santa Claus…” My mom said my dad was practically crying trying to keep a stern, straight face…lol!</p>
<p>DRJ - I think in East Texas, it’s ‘like a Texan on fried catfish’ maybe?</p>
<p>I love your “Texan on a tamale” and I bet you’re right about the fried catfish … or maybe some crawfish. Man, this thread is making me hungry. How about some fajitas, IDMom?</p>