TMBS - Fuck Proper Language

Fuck Proper Language!
~ An essay by Stuart Ravn ~
First in the "This Must be Said" series


"Oh, fuck!"
"Bobby, watch your language!"
Isn't this a common scene? Someone curses, and someone else decides to tell him/her off for using 'improper language.'
For some reason, words such as 'shit,' 'damn,' 'bitch,' and so on, are classified as cursing and are frowned upon by 'better' people. 'Shit' is just an interjection, like 'ow,' or 'shoot.' Those three words mean the same thing. Yet many would prefer 'shoot' to 'shit,' even though 'shoot' came to be an interjection because people didn't like saying 'shit.'
But why? Is there anything generally deplorable about the word 'shit' in the first place? There are two parts to any given word in any given language: the sound, and the idea that we associate that sound with. First let's assume that the sound is rude in one way or another. This is just plain absurd, considering the many, many completely benign coincidences in other languages: 'shi-ot' (phonetically shee`/ote) in Korean translates to the English letter S; 'fac et' (phonetically fack it) in Latin translates to 'she is' or 'she does.' That, and these 'swear' words, when spoken to someone who doesn't know the language, mean absolutely nothing; the Finnish 'vittun' means 'fuck'; the Greek 'vutana' means 'bitch.' Neither of those words would mean anything to an American.
Thus we must be somehow afraid of the idea associated with the given word. This, again, is absurd: 'Shit' is associated with something bad happening, something good happening, literal fecal material, and a general insult or derogatory remark to an inanimate object or impalpable idea (referring to literal fecal material, of course) - respectively "Oh, shit!" "That's the shit!" "Eat shit and die," and "What's all this shit doing here?" These phrases are mere expressions of one's mood or opinion. They mean the same thing when you say "Oh, shoot!" or "That's great!" or "Eat boogers and die," and "What's all this stuff doing here?" Most people, excepting the extremely paranoid, would not stop their kids from saying 'stuff.' But, in the context, it means the same thing as 'shit.'
Some may react to the previous statements saying that "Eat shit and die" is just a mean thing to say in general. I agree, however I know that the level of rudeness in "Eat shit and die" is much less than that of an average football game.
The words that many label as bad words are really just more informal and easier for some to use. Technically speaking, you could call swearing a dialect. But you've never seen anybody punished for speaking another language (in a free country, of course). If we're so up tight about using a more comfortable system of speech, why don't we just go out and arrest everyone who's kissing on a park bench, or raising their hands in a literature class? What kind of world is it we live in where a man who expresses himself is called 'improper'? You can go around trying to fix everyone's speech, but just remember: you're the one using improper language.



Essay is Copyright © 2002 Stuart Ravn.