In the words of the late comic George Carlin:
I love words. I thank you for hearing my words. I want to tell you something about words that I uh, I think is important. I love..as I say, they're my work, they're my play, they're my passion. Words are all we have really.
We have thoughts, but thoughts are fluid. You know, [humming]. And, then we
assign a word to a thought, [clicks tongue]. And we're stuck with that word for
that thought. So be careful with words. I like to think, yeah, the same words
that hurt can heal. It's a matter of how you pick them.
There are some people that aren't into all the words. There are some people
who would have you not use certain words. Yeah, there are 400,000 words in the
English language, and there are seven of them that you can't say on television.
What a ratio that is. 399,993 to seven. They must really be bad. They'd have to
be outrageous, to be separated from a group that large. All of you over here,
you seven. Bad words. That's what they told us they were, remember? 'That's a
bad word.' 'Awwww.' There are no bad words. Bad thoughts. Bad Intentions.
And words, you know the seven don't you? Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, Cocksucker,
Motherfucker, and Tits, huh? Those are the heavy seven. Those are the ones that
will infect your soul, curve your spine and keep the country from winning the
war.
For a full transcript: http://www.erenkrantz.com/Humor/SevenDirtyWords.shtml
I never tire of Carlin’s “7 Words You Can’t Say on
Television” – but when I was listening to it recently, it struck me as
completely relevant to our class. Three things I’d like to note:
- Carlin’s reverence and adulation for words and their capabilities.
- Carlin’s sensibilities in agreement with Nietzsche in regards to truth.
- Carlin’s dissection of metaphors in “bad” words. (for more evidence of this, see transcript)
Without words, where would we be? Frustrations aside, our
ability to communicate without words is often uproariously comical. Consider
the age-old game of Charades. Generations of people have gathered around and
attempted to communicate words through only physical actions. The humorous result
of watching Uncle Walter acting out “To Kill a Mockingbird” is in the visual imagery
of an aging man flapping his fictional wings while trying to express some kind
of forcible death. Laughter erupts because without words, we are reduced to
goofy improvisation of symbols for objects and concepts. Our mis-communication
even with words can be hilariously
funny. The list of unintentional gaffes, malapropisms, and made-up words (think
SNL's mockery of G.W. Bush with “strategery”) goes on and on, and it it through this medium that
many comics can elicit laughter by pointing out the obvious humor in our misuse
of words. Mitch Hedberg’s often quoted line that “An escalator can never break--it can only become stairs. You would never
see an "Escalator Temporarily Out Of Order" sign, just "Escalator
Temporarily Stairs. Sorry for the convenience. We apologize for the fact
that you can still get up there."” relies on our knowledge of words and their associated
meanings/metaphors. That Carlin makes a note that “thoughts are fluid” shows
the permanence of words and the impact of their meaning at one particular time.
Once uttered or written, either in the sand or in spray paint on the side of a
building, a word has left a lasting impression in this world, one that is
different to everyone who sees or hears it.
After our online discussions about Nietzsche, I hadn’t (and
still haven’t) been able to shake the notion that what one person thinks of as “the
truth” is not necessarily what another person thinks of as the truth. What does
this have to do with George Carlin and obscenities? Just this: that the truth
of a word’s meaning is not irrefutable. Nietszche claimed that words were
merely metaphors: representative of a feeling, an object, a concept, for each
person. That an individual has his or her own definition for a word is true,
but the truth of that particular word is not the same for any two people. In
terms of obscene language, we all have different reactions to what we perceive
the meanings to be. Meanings can change at different circumstances in different
company. Someone referring to her boss as a serious “douche” may garner
laughter, but used in a different context, say… a Gynecologist’s office, the
same word takes on a new role. Consider people who learn English as a second
language. Imagine how confusing many idiomatic expressions are used as obscenities
are for them. Some words have dual meaning: A Frenchman would ask why you were
giggling about the “shower” or why is “motherfucker” different from “dad”?
Carlin points out many inane reasons that society (and those
in charge of keeping society a happy place full of unicorns and rainbows) avoids
specific words. One thing he fails to point out though is those words that, even
in English speaking countries, are different on either side of the Atlantic.
One of the seven deadly words, “cunt” (often pronounced See You Next Tuesday by
prudish individuals) is mightily taboo in American culture and is often deemed
the ultimate in insultingly crass words to use in regard to a woman. On the
contrary, in England, the same word is a mere comical slight or even positive term
of endearment in passing that is used for anyone, male or female. On the flip
side, an American prudish-ism “fanny” is a nickname for a woman’s vagina in
England. So, wait a minute, same word, same language, different meaning, different
location – can this be true?
I could go on and on, picking away at the uses and versions
of “bad” language, but such writing has been exhausted by many others before
me. I will just end with one final comment about the “badness” of these words. What
is it about these words that is so bad? What stirs fear in those who try to suppress
them? What threat do they pose? Are they, like Marijuana, the gateway drug?
Will using these words plunge a person into the depths of humanity, opening doors
to temptation and evil? I know plenty of saintly individuals with broad
vocabularies and serious potty mouths, and I don’t think they are worried about
the road to hell being paved with bad linguistic inventions.
"Strategery"
