Jlall, on Mar 24 2008, 04:41 PM, said:
kenberg, on Mar 24 2008, 06:56 AM, said:
I was thinking maybe his next growth spurt would be to stop discussing stupid fucking ***** with young women he was trying to impress.
WOW, and I thought the moral of your story was going to be "I realized how the language has changed and evolved, and how things that were taboo 100 years ago when I was a kid no longer have the same meaning/impact."
What is wrong with talking about stupid fucking ***** in an unoffensive/unattacking manner with someone? Why should that offend them? It's so much different to say "dumb stuff"? Doing dumb stuff does not have the same emphasis and thus probably doesnt convey his point as well. Perhaps he should say REALLY dumb stuff! I think it says a lot about how we have come along as a society that the intent of words are far more offensive than the words themselves. Certainly if I were to say "***** you" that should offend you, but if I say "sorry that was a fucking retarded play i made" that should not offend you. If it does offend you that is from an irrational bias against the word *****.
And if you think it is ok to use the word ***** in front of your guy friends but not in front of a woman you are trying to court, I'm sorry but I think THAT is really a sexist and antiquated idea. Believe it or not women can handle the words ***** and ***** now, and it is not even considered unladylike to use them!
To be honest after reading this thread I think the problem is really there are many generations of people reading these forums. Nobody who is oldschool is going to be convinced by anything I say, and I think the reverse is true also.
I am not sure I had a point, maybe just an observation, hopefully reasonably on topic.
It is, as you say, partly generational. Here is a variant from a few years back. I was in Denny's eating breakfast and at a nearby table a lawyer was discussing a divorce case with his client, rather loudly. It went something like *****, we will show her if she wants to ***** with us we'll ***** her, fucking right. I sat for this for a while and then leaned towards them and suggested that if they wanted to discuss fucking they should get a private room. A bit later after they had left ( to go where and do what I didn't ask) an older lady came to my table and thanked me. She was there having breakfast with her granddaughter, age 10 or so, and had not been much enjoying it. Sure the guy was being obnoxious enough just by his loudness, but I might have let that go.
But then a story on the flip side:
I was at a stupid fucking dinner at a stupid fucking conference sitting at a table with people I didn't know. I finished my dinner, made some polite talk for what I thought was long enough, and started to get up to leave. Just as I got out of my chair there was the familiar tapping of fork on glass announcing after dinner talks. "Oh *****!" I spontaneously said, and sat back down. With that as a starter we all quickly became friends and escaped soon after to the local bar. My comment was taken by all as an accurate assessment of the situation.
It's not all generational though. I have a fifteen year old granddaughter and I can't imagine her walking along quietly listening to a guy talking at length about stupid fucking ***** that he used to do, no longer does, blah blah blah. Maybe it's genetic. I like to think so.
I seriously doubt I have a point. That doesn't stop others.