Archive for September 11th, 2007
Do not read if you’re easily offended
Grandad September 11th, 2007
I have been reading quite a few blogs lately on the subject of profanities in posts.
Some bloggers like to keep their posts clean, presumably not wishing to offend anyone.
Some bloggers are as profane as possible, presumably wishing to offend everyone.
My personal attitude is to write as I speak. Well, maybe I tone it down a bit. and for the sake of sensibilities, I might pepper it with a few asterisks.
I am the type of person who, if I drop a lump-hammer on my foot is as likely to roar ’shit’, ‘fuck’ or ‘Jayzus’ as anyone. Somehow, in that circumstance, ‘fiddle-de-dee’ doesn’t quite do it for me. Similarly if I get annoyed at someone, I’m unlikely to call him ‘an annoying person’.
The Irish are good at swearing. We have refined it to a fine art. It is overdone amongst the youth who tend to pepper every sentence with as many ‘fucks’ as they can squeeze in ["Fuck, Jacinta, did yiz fuckin' see yer man's fuckin' arse? He only fuckin' gorgeous"].
What confuses visitors to Ireland though is that sometimes an apparent profanity can be a compliment. If someone referred to me as a ‘nice ould bollix’ I would feel complimented. On the other hand, if they referred to me as ‘only an ould bollix’ I would thump them. Context is vital.
I was asked yesterday “is bollix as offensive in Ireland as fuck?“. The answer is again, it depends on context. Both are offensive to those that are easily offended, but both are words in very common use. In fact the same person - Going Like Sixty - makes a point similar to my own line of thinking.
‘Catch Her in the Wry’ makes a similar point. She starts by chastising profane authors, but relents in a follow up after getting some feedback.
There are limits in my book though. The one word I do not like, for some reason is ‘cunt’. Maybe I’m being prudish [some will say hypocritical], but I just don’t like it. ‘Twenty Major‘ has made a virtue out of the word. He is a good writer, and just about gets away with it. Unfortunately, there are a load of wannabe Twenties out there who think that by calling everyone a cunt that they will be as good a writer as he is. They are best ignored. Twenty actually does a swear count in a book he is writing, which seems to prove a point [somewhere].
That’s enough for now. I’m mentally bollixed after writing this, and I’m fucked if I’m going to write any more.
And if you don’t like it, you can feck off.
