1. Yes, it's a whole new look! Have questions or need help? Please post your question in the New Forum Questions thread Click the X to the right to dismiss this notice
    Dismiss Notice
  2. Seeing tons of unread posts after the upgrade? See this thread for help. Click the X to the right to dismiss this notice
    Dismiss Notice

This Generation of Teens

Discussion in 'General Chat Forum' started by Carol Al-Ajroush, Apr 9, 2005.

  1. neilz

    neilz New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 7, 2003
    Messages:
    2,547
    Likes Received:
    0
    I'm giving away my age ... but if you ever heard George Carlin's 7 Words you can't say on TV, he goes on about how there are no bad words ... just bad thoughts and bad actions ...

    Take the 4 letter word most heard in teen conversation. At least they're using it creatively ... as a adj., a noun, an adverb ... seems that their courses in grammar took !! [:p]

    Neil Z.
    Resident since 1999
     
  2. brim

    brim Member

    Joined:
    Nov 18, 2003
    Messages:
    1,339
    Likes Received:
    11
    It is a very versatile word...

    http://www.twoguys.org/~gregh/fword.wav

    And Carlin is a genius...as a test, I'm going to see how many of the seven words will get past the book burning fascist profanity checker here:

    ****, piss, ****, ****, cocksucker, mother****er, and tits
     
  3. Pats_fan

    Pats_fan Former Resident

    Joined:
    Jan 7, 2004
    Messages:
    1,030
    Likes Received:
    1
    Sheesh, brim! Are you asking to have your account suspended?
     
  4. brim

    brim Member

    Joined:
    Nov 18, 2003
    Messages:
    1,339
    Likes Received:
    11
    Hey, das profanity kontrolleur should have got those...I didn't do anything wrong.
     
  5. Pats_fan

    Pats_fan Former Resident

    Joined:
    Jan 7, 2004
    Messages:
    1,030
    Likes Received:
    1
    Well, good luck with that argument...
     
  6. brim

    brim Member

    Joined:
    Nov 18, 2003
    Messages:
    1,339
    Likes Received:
    11
    One would think that if anything is in the profantiy filter it would be the infamous seven dirty words. If anything, they'll update the filter. While my argument remains that there are no bad words, even if you do believe there are bad words you have to take them with the context in which they're used. Just seeing a 'bad' word by itself can't POSSIBLY offend ANYONE. It's just a word with no context behind it...like the above examples.

    If social norms are never questioned and everything remains status quo and homogonized, there can be no advancement of mankind.
     
  7. upr_dcker

    upr_dcker New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 2, 2005
    Messages:
    32
    Likes Received:
    0
    I wouldn't necessarily agree that a 'bad' word by itself can't offend anyone. One of George Carlin's seven dirty words might not offend, but a racial or religious epithet would likely cause a different reaction.

    Filters are all well and good, but as you can see, they're hardly foolproof. I used to post to a baseball message board, and one of my posts was deleted automatically because I commented on a team's acquisition of Midre Cummings.
     
  8. brim

    brim Member

    Joined:
    Nov 18, 2003
    Messages:
    1,339
    Likes Received:
    11
    I agree about the racial/religious slurs, I was mainly commenting on the 'dirty language' you see people up in arms about all the time. I think we can all agree that insensitive racial/religious slurs have no place in society...
     
  9. Carol Al-Ajroush

    Carol Al-Ajroush New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 30, 2003
    Messages:
    819
    Likes Received:
    0
    I believe it ultimately comes down to how things are said. I don't care for the free use of profanity such as using it as easily as one might say "awesome" for example. Call me the fuddy duddy but if we as adults use it(profanity) freely then it appears acceptable to the youth. Not a good example!

    Racial/religious slurs are also offensive and can have their own set of repurcussions. Fortunately I've not seen or heard as free use in this regard as I have had to profanity.
     
  10. poultry

    poultry New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2005
    Messages:
    36
    Likes Received:
    0
    I agree with upr_dcker and brim about the racial/relgious slurs.

    The reason that racial/religious slurs should be unacceptable is because they only serve to unfairly attack someone else.

    "Bad words" on the other hand are merely words. Someone who drops a vase and exclaims "oh $#^&!" isn't out to hurt anyone with those words. Can we reasonably explain to our children (or youths in general) why bad words are bad? If so, I'd love to hear it. The only reason we can give to them is "adults can be offended by it so you might get in trouble for saying it". So now we've given them a free weapon to use any time they want to get an easily-offended adult all riled up.

    And as for the argument that swearing limits vocabulary...yes, I believe that it does do that when people (kids and adults) use it in place of just about any word. Then again, swearing is just one of many things that hurt people's communication skills. I've had a lot of professors who were incredibly intelligent yet couldn't communicate worth crap. It wasn't because they were swearing all the time.
     
  11. Carol Al-Ajroush

    Carol Al-Ajroush New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 30, 2003
    Messages:
    819
    Likes Received:
    0
    When one has so many million of words to choose from why is it so easy to digress to profanity? I feel that one can make more of an impact by carefully choosing their words than readily spewing out profanity.

    I know the use of certain words is never going to stop but it's at least worth to plant the seed that hey...don't foget...there are a lot of other options out there.

    But I go back to my original intent with starting the thread...I dislike seeing how the youth freely use the 'f' word today which I do not find acceptable or tasteful.


     
  12. poultry

    poultry New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2005
    Messages:
    36
    Likes Received:
    0
    I agree with you.

    I just don't see why "bad" words are any worse in this sense than, for example, people saying "uh" or "ummmm" too much in regular conversation.

    I'm not promoting excessive use of words classified as profanity, I'm just questioning why it's "bad".

    It's only unacceptable or distasteful because society has brought us up to fear certain words. The words aren't out there necessarily to hurt you. Why do you really find them unacceptable or distasteful?
     
  13. Mearen

    Mearen New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 27, 2003
    Messages:
    155
    Likes Received:
    0
    Isn't the nature of the teen to be rebelious, so the opposite is actually true. The entire premise of this thread is flawed as well, this is not new behavior by this generation of teens, it's been every generation of teens. It's only a perception problem, but the reality is teens have been acting like this, at the very least, for decades.
     
  14. Carol Al-Ajroush

    Carol Al-Ajroush New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 30, 2003
    Messages:
    819
    Likes Received:
    0
    I never stated that the nature of teens is or is not to be rebelious or that use of profanity is a new behavior. I'm stating that we see it too much and would like to see positive measures and actions to improve this.


    Racial/religious slurs are also offensive and can have their own set of repurcussions. Fortunately I've not seen or heard as free use in this regard as I have had to profanity.
    [/quote]

    Isn't the nature of the teen to be rebelious, so the opposite is actually true. The entire premise of this thread is flawed as well, this is not new behavior by this generation of teens, it's been every generation of teens. It's only a perception problem, but the reality is teens have been acting like this, at the very least, for decades.
    [/quote]
     
  15. Silence Dogood99

    Silence Dogood99 New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2005
    Messages:
    2,769
    Likes Received:
    2
    When we lived in the south, we knew scores of men and women whose speech dripped with kindness and never uttered a curse word...but inside their hearts spewed bitterness, judgment, envy and gossip. So in that context, I'd prefer curse words thrown around meaninglessly by a teenager over the gossip of a polite neighbor anyday.

    On the related point of whether there really are any "bad words," I guess inherently there aren't...but societies do have certain commonly accepted mores intended to keep discourse on a proper level. To those who say no word is a bad word, would you mind if I came to your house and in front of your 6 or 8 or 10 year-old daughter repeatedly use the F* word to describe what couples do with each other in their bedrooms, or would you prefer I use the term "making love" or "being intimate"?? Because if there are truly no bad words, then you should feel perfectly comfortable instructing your kids that when they get married (or if your mores so dictate, before marriage), they should enjoy F*ing each other.
     
  16. Zansu

    Zansu New Member

    Joined:
    Sep 13, 2003
    Messages:
    414
    Likes Received:
    0
    Of course, if you want your child (or yourself) to be able to move in all circles, they need to discern the enviroment and recognized that "acceptable" in language is often situational.
     
  17. poultry

    poultry New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2005
    Messages:
    36
    Likes Received:
    0
    I don't see your point.

    I'm saying the words</u> themselves shouldn't be "bad". It's a pretty simple statement. I never said anything about what the words actually refer to--whether you think its subject matter is acceptable is not for me to decide.
     
  18. neilz

    neilz New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 7, 2003
    Messages:
    2,547
    Likes Received:
    0
    It was loosened a bit to enable the phrase cocktail ... however, they should have added the one that passed through to cover that eventuality !!

    Neil Z.
    Resident since 1999
     
  19. Carol Al-Ajroush

    Carol Al-Ajroush New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 30, 2003
    Messages:
    819
    Likes Received:
    0
    Hi Poultry!

    The reason I see the use of "bad" words as less tasteful than one who says "uh" or "ummm" is due to the meaning, implied or otherwise of the word spoken. Individuals who have the habit of using "uh" or "ummm" may not even be aware that they are doing this and in the majority of cases, do not do so intentionally. However an individual who uses profanity chooses to do so in spite of having many other words which they can choose from.

    I find the use of profanity as distasteful and unacceptable mainly because I'm just a conservative fuddy duddy :) and feel that using profanity freely makes it an acceptable norm in society and okay for the youth to use it freely as well.

    I'm realistic to know that its use will not stop but again, I started the thread just to get folks thinking about the issue and maybe, just maybe, in their own way, attempt to make a difference and minimize the use and spread of tacit acceptance in the free use of profanity and especially the use of it by today's youth.

    okay...Mother Hen mode is now off! :D

    I agree with you.

    I just don't see why "bad" words are any worse in this sense than, for example, people saying "uh" or "ummmm" too much in regular conversation.

    I'm not promoting excessive use of words classified as profanity, I'm just questioning why it's "bad".

    It's only unacceptable or distasteful because society has brought us up to fear certain words. The words aren't out there necessarily to hurt you. Why do you really find them unacceptable or distasteful?
    [/quote]
     
  20. Carol Al-Ajroush

    Carol Al-Ajroush New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 30, 2003
    Messages:
    819
    Likes Received:
    0
    Interesting point...a word is a word is a word...However it is the context and manner in which it is used which infers whether it is in bad taste or insulting.

    Above being said, I'm sure we all will agree that in each society and culture there are specific words which are considered vulgar and in bad taste and therefore in polite company, the routine use of such words in avoided.

    Speaking as a parent, I've always used "politically" correct words and terminology with my son or other young adults. Additionally with my son I had no qualms during such discussions acknowledging of other terms he may hear but making it clear that in polite society and company they were not acceptable.




     

Share This Page