Intolerance is the new taboo.
In Shakespeare's day, swear words were generally associated with religion. You would get words like ''sblood', short for 'God's blood', taking the Lord's name in vain, and so on. That was one of the interesting things that I learned from a drama teacher in high school. Words like that in those days would have had the power to shock because people were more religious in those days. People took blasphemy seriously.
I was in high school in the 1980s. In those days, we thought of swear words as being mainly associated with bodily functions. They were the sort of things that would evoke disgust and they would upset our parents terribly if they heard us say them. We, of course, would say them between ourselves with joyful abandon. I am sure that many of us took a perverse pleasure in saying words that had the power to shock at least some people.
Of course, now we're all grown up and those words have achieved much more currency. People will swear these days and you won't even notice it. But one of the few words in English that retains its power to shock is the word that starts with 'c'. I could never bring myself to use it, and it is one of those words that packs emotional dynamite. Another word like this, especially in the US, is the word that starts with 'n', another word that I could not in a million years bring myself to use.
And I think, what do these two words have in common? If you use the 'c' word, it seems to me that you are causing offence because you sound like a misogynist bastard. If you use the 'n' word, well, that means that you're a racist pig. In other words, the two words are both associated with intolerance, in the former case of women and in the latter case of blacks — hence, intolerance is the new taboo.
I was in high school in the 1980s. In those days, we thought of swear words as being mainly associated with bodily functions. They were the sort of things that would evoke disgust and they would upset our parents terribly if they heard us say them. We, of course, would say them between ourselves with joyful abandon. I am sure that many of us took a perverse pleasure in saying words that had the power to shock at least some people.
Of course, now we're all grown up and those words have achieved much more currency. People will swear these days and you won't even notice it. But one of the few words in English that retains its power to shock is the word that starts with 'c'. I could never bring myself to use it, and it is one of those words that packs emotional dynamite. Another word like this, especially in the US, is the word that starts with 'n', another word that I could not in a million years bring myself to use.
And I think, what do these two words have in common? If you use the 'c' word, it seems to me that you are causing offence because you sound like a misogynist bastard. If you use the 'n' word, well, that means that you're a racist pig. In other words, the two words are both associated with intolerance, in the former case of women and in the latter case of blacks — hence, intolerance is the new taboo.
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