Watering down extreme words

Originally posted by Esrom Escutcheon Esquire
reply to post by RedCairo

 

Also, concerning the neutral genders thing, id try and address the person by name.. which I kinda learnt from work.

Well in the example I was giving, actually, the issue would be that you don't know the person's gender. If you don't mistranslate them into a plural, or horribly infest your sentences with "he and/or she" everywhere, you're forced to sound like you're writing a legal contract, substituting some official definition ('...and this afternoon, the potential client said [he? they?] would stop by, because [he? they?] wanted to take a look at the proposal').

Originally posted by Nyiah
Words like "terrorism" or "extremist" aren't really all that that different to me compared to prior years. By that, I mean in the general populace's lexicon. They do have political leanings now, however. Had we not been bombarded for over a decade with political justifications for applying them to everything under the sun that might be construed as maybe, possibly, slightly anti-American, they would still have the meaning they did all those years ago. I wouldn't call that a cultural change of the definition, but a politically motivated manipulation from the government.

I agree. Although depending on the widespread and longterm repercussions of it, perhaps it won't matter what the reasoning was for the change.

It does imply that we need a word which means "a person who has ideals aligned with what they were taught was the nature of their country but which are now politically incorrect and seen as threatening to the current regime but who would probably never commit or contribute to the committing of a violent act against innocent people." I guess that's one of those words that changing conditions suggest we make up.

reply to post by RedCairo


I only speak english, I understand a bit of acadian french, so I really can't do a comparison. English language seems quite dumb to me at times, the way we have so many words that means the same thing, that a thesaurus became necessary. That might be one of the reasons people stopped making more words up, we have too damn many words as it is

Feelings for me, have always been very difficult to impossible to put into word form. I was always better at making a drawing or painting, that would envoke the same feeling from others if it was successful.

reply to post by RedCairo


Neutral gender word would be it, or in the plural they. The word it carries baggage though, it is used as an insult when referring to a person as it. Animals, not so much, but the usage of the word it when aimed at a person is always seemed to be said with an insulting tone.

reply to post by Nyiah


In person we at least have many cues to clue us in on the intended meaning, at least if you are observant, and take body language, facial expression, and tone of voice into account. The cyber age changed all that. We do have emoticons to help, but even those seem to be misused. Take the laughing one here for example. It seems it is more often used to show you are laughing at the person you are addressing, rather than laughing in a jovial sense of the word. The laugh emoticon here, and at other forums is used to punctuate insults mostly.

I so understand what you are saying!

I also agree with you.

There is one word that people use a lot and it bothers me esp because I don't like to use this word so casually, love

I always feel uncomfortable when someone says "love you or love ya" when I barely know them. I don't use the term love unless I truly mean it. I think this is why so many people get hurt in relationships. They use the word in the wrong context and toss it around like it has no real meaning then when the person doesn't return those feelings they are hurt. It can be true for any kind of relationship just not a partner relationship. It can be between friends or co workers.

If I say the word to you then I mean it. I dont like how some people want to use it right away as if it's an appropriate way to end a message for someone they barely know.

Maybe I'm being too picky but I feel you should only use the word "love" when it is truly meant and not casually.

As for the word "hate" I agree I was always taught hate was a strong word. I can say that I hate beans and peas but I don't hate a person. I dislike a person but not hate. I know I said hate to my mom once and i was back handed. I said once because I never did it again after that lol I was probably in HS when I did it too.

I also think the term terrorist is used FAR too much in a casual way now and that is scary.

reply to post by TrueBrit


You have a valid point. I suppose that coming from a lower middle class upbringing has a bit to do with my attitude there. You get treated as "uppity" when using big fancy words, when you can just state simply what you mean. People almost took it as an insult when people used the big fancy words, and retorted back with sarcasm and scorn. "Too fancy to speak regular english, are you?"

I started reading adult novels around 8, and kept a dictionary/thesaurus handy for when I cam across unknown words. By the time I was 10, I had stopped trying to use the new words I learned in conversations. Peers can be cruel, and god forbid you get tagged with nerd and it stuck

reply to post by Trihalo42


These days, being infamous or even notorious seems to be the same as famous. Either way, people remember you, and that's all people seem to care about. The phrase "There is no such thing as bad publicity" comes to my mind here.

I ran with the worst of the worst crowd in my youth, I totally understand the concept of trying to outdo everyone else on how "badass" one can be. I am glad I outgrew that in my 20's, as bad off as I might be now, a lot of those I used to run with are now dead, or in prison.

reply to post by mblahnikluver


Good points. That is one of the reasons I joined ATS. I knew I was capable of using normal language, rather than using cuss words all the time as a filler...like that was needed.

But here's one example for you.

I love that you share your recipes with us.

But I would hate it if those recipes were only about Brussel Sprouts. Can't stand the nasty things.

reply to post by mblahnikluver


Ah ha, appears we are on the same wave length.

Said the same on the previous page.

Over use of a word devalues its meaning in my oppinion.

If the use of the word is rare, then when it is finally used, it has meaning.

At least that's what I think.


eee.

Retarded hate fcks pssy dcks. Retarded # fcks dck pssies.

As you can see, I used completely derogatory words in sentences to relay various points that does not condemn anyone r anything, but is rather a stream of curses designed to be self destroying, rather than external destroying. Why is this important. Because what you highlighted" I hate you" is something that bugs me to-it is external destroying. For example, if I had said "You are all _____" whereby underlined is the stream of curses, you all would be determinedly offended.

However, our media is training the young to respond to events external destroying wise, which is causing parents-being very stressed, to react in kind. What is the solution? Choosing to feel good, feel love, and remembering how it was when you were a kid-that of curse words, words of hate being used to destroy that which needs destroying-evil, and holding the tongue, commanding the tongue how it needs to be commanded. The tongue runs wild if not kept in cheek/check. Which is why an occasional vow of silence helps out a lot at a young age.

-Silver

My thoughts on this?

I take the First Amendment to heart. Unless someone is seriously slandering me (and I mean serious. Not just "that guy is a jerk") or unless someone is seriously threatening to do me harm, I don't really care what they say.

People are still people. We notice words more now because of the internet. You sit down at your computer after work and browse a few sites. It might be hard to wrap your mind around the fact that in less than an hour, you could possibly be exposed to more people, more variety and more culture than you would otherwise be in an entire day.

Those of us who had lives before the internet, it can be kind of jarring. Things seemed so innocent in the 80s, for example, compared to what you'll see just about anywhere online.

But I don't really believe things are worse. Things are just more concentrated when (for instance) you browse an international forum with thousands of members. You have everyone in the world who can speak English and happens to be interested in that subject packed together in that tiny room.

Crowds have never been the best places to find humanity's better side.

originally posted by: TKDRL
"Mom, can you buy this for me?"

"No, not this time." the mother replied.

"I hate you mommy!" the girl then replied. That was pretty shocking to me as it is.

Then the mother replied with: "I hate you too, little brat."

This interaction depends on so much, including the state of mind of the observer (you), the inflection and intent with which it was delivered, and the back story between the two people having it, which you don't know.

Example: It could be that there is an ongoing battle between the mother and child about the strong use of the word "hate" by the child and the mother was trying a little levity or or irony psychology or even humor or hair of the dog to diffuse it or drive home a lesson.

Also for example, without knowing any of this, just reading it in a vacuum made me laugh, because as a parent who got plenty of exactly this kind of extreme reaction from my kiddo when he heard the word no, it made me laugh.

As to the overall premise of watering down extreme words? Well some maybe need to be watered down. They're only extreme and remain extreme by peoples' reactions to them. We give words their power to influence, control, shock us, and we perpetuate this power by our reactions to them.

Hi,
You really need to see South Park Season 5 Episode 2 - It Hits the Fan if you haven't yet.
One wouldn't search for much wisdom in something like Southpark but this one is special.
It's actually slightly about cursed words (s#hit in this case) and how it affects us, how it can have hidden etymology etc. Find it, see it and you'll not regret it.

Many words are indeed evil mantras. With some of them we "just" poison our selves and some are like daggers we stab into others. Language is magic.

with all due respect to my fellow members, I thought people here already knew the influence of loaded words and hyperbolic catch phrases, and how to parse them from the truth.