Humor will not be tolerated!! -Portia

C is for wrote:*cough*

It's spelled bundt.

*rolls eyes too*

Your nym is all too inappropriate in this thread.

Has anyone here read Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde? In it, the characters refer to sex exclusively as "youknow" and it is very rare when someone says a "Very Bad Word."

I think I heard somewhere that the working title for the show "The Big C" (which is about cancer) was actually "The C-Word." Until they realized how that would come across.

ahem. wrote: "The Big C"

Heh. For a second, I glanced at this and thought you were referring to me.

Man, I love when stuff I do sparks a big discussion (especially when it's one where people aren't acting like idiots!).

Anyway, I find it interesting when a word is so taboo that it's hard to even find out about it. I didn't know "the c-word" forever, and it still carries very little impact for me, because it comes up so rarely.

But really, I'm here to see if anybody else noticed the Most Offensive Thing the board ever posted, way back in this answer: http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/52084/ It was obviously unwitting, and I totally saw it once it posted, but nobody seemed to make a big deal out of it, so hey, whatever...

Go read it before the editors see what's been done (and left publicly accessible for 18 months)!

Foreman, that's awesome.

I went and read it looking for double entendres and found a couple where I thought, "Is that what he's looking for?" Then I found one you were referring to.

I had never heard that particular naughty word until I read somewhere that people on television attempting to use a past tense form of the pseudo-verb "to twitter" were frequently accidentally using inappropriate language on-air.

Foreman wrote:Man, I love when stuff I do sparks a big discussion (especially when it's one where people aren't acting like idiots!).

Anyway, I find it interesting when a word is so taboo that it's hard to even find out about it. I didn't know "the c-word" forever, and it still carries very little impact for me, because it comes up so rarely.

But really, I'm here to see if anybody else noticed the Most Offensive Thing the board ever posted, way back in this answer: http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/52084/ It was obviously unwitting, and I totally saw it once it posted, but nobody seemed to make a big deal out of it, so hey, whatever...

Go read it before the editors see what's been done (and left publicly accessible for 18 months)!

I'm guessing it got through because the editors had no idea it (twat) was an inappropriate word. To be totally honest, I had no clue it was an inappropriate word until someone in a movie (a crappy one... the scarlet letter movie from early this fall) got in trouble for saying it at school.

I had no idea what you were referring to, Foreman, even looking for it, until I saw wired's post. For what it's worth, that word also has a non-vulgar meaning (which, I should point out, is the meaning habiba used). Saying her post is the Most Offensive Thing is like people complaining that the Bible swears when it talks about damning people or Samson killing people with the jawbone of an ass. Those aren't being used as swear words.

And for the record, common swear words have appeared on the Board a couple of times. (The two examples I know of were in quotes, which I personally don't like, but apparently is acceptable.) Given the total lack of controversy about habiba's post, it seems likely that most people don't consider it offensive.

Laser Jock wrote:(The two examples I know of were in quotes, which I personally don't like, but apparently is acceptable.)

What would you have preferred?

Laser Jock wrote:I had no idea what you were referring to, Foreman, even looking for it, until I saw wired's post. For what it's worth, that word also has a non-vulgar meaning (which, I should point out, is the meaning habiba used). Saying her post is the Most Offensive Thing is like people complaining that the Bible swears when it talks about damning people or Samson killing people with the jawbone of an ass. Those aren't being used as swear words.

And for the record, common swear words have appeared on the Board a couple of times. (The two examples I know of were in quotes, which I personally don't like, but apparently is acceptable.) Given the total lack of controversy about habiba's post, it seems likely that most people don't consider it offensive.

I'm not sure I buy that. Using it in a non-anatomical sense doesn't make it not vulgar (or most uses of the f-word would be totally okay). I can think of a lot of ways to use a swear word that isn't in its literal sense, but where it's still not appropriate in polite conversation.

I know we've had a few regular swears, but this one is generally ranked as more offensive than those mild enough to make it through our approval process, making this, by default, my winner for Most Offensive Thing we've happened to post. I would credit the lack of uproar to the above mention that a lot of people don't even know this word. (but, as mentioned earlier, not being offended by a word somehow doesn't make it not offensive...? Swearing is funny.)

I'm with Foreman, that's definitely used in the vulgar manner. However, as many of us have noted we weren't fully aware of its vulgar meaning, it's entirely possible it was used without full knowledge of all its connotations. But, if anyone is aware of it's vulgar meaning, there is no way that sentence can be read without it seeming like a swear word.

um, did they change it? because all i saw was "twits," which is not a swear word at all.

Imogen wrote:um, did they change it? because all i saw was "twits," which is not a swear word at all.

Yes, it did get changed. I knew it would once I drew attention to it, I just wondered how long it would take. But it was there.

Foreman wrote:

Imogen wrote:um, did they change it? because all i saw was "twits," which is not a swear word at all.

Yes, it did get changed. I knew it would once I drew attention to it, I just wondered how long it would take. But it was there.

ah.

you know, i realized while i was listening to the "legally blonde" soundtrack that many of you would get offended by the first song, while i find it totally silly and fun because of taking the lord's name in vain. interesting how growing up in different circumstances colors how we see a word.

Foreman wrote:

Imogen wrote:um, did they change it? because all i saw was "twits," which is not a swear word at all.

Yes, it did get changed. I knew it would once I drew attention to it, I just wondered how long it would take. But it was there.

One small vowel can make all the difference.

Humble Master wrote:One small vowel can make all the difference.

Heh, R*pe, anyone?

Foreman wrote:Using it in a non-anatomical sense doesn't make it not vulgar (or most uses of the f-word would be totally okay).

Misread this and was about to disagree. Now, I see that not agreeing with the statement that non-anatomical usages of swear words doesn't make them not vulgar wouldn't be right.

XÞ

GAH.

I kind of want to say "bajingo" in an answer just so it's searchable in the archives. I wouldn't use it in an anatomical sense. I would use it to describe Foreman or something.

Katya wrote:

Laser Jock wrote:(The two examples I know of were in quotes, which I personally don't like, but apparently is acceptable.)

What would you have preferred?

I'd have preferred not quoting profanity either; I don't see how "But they said it first!" makes it acceptable.

Foreman wrote:

Laser Jock wrote:For what it's worth, that word also has a non-vulgar meaning

I'm not sure I buy that. Using it in a non-anatomical sense doesn't make it not vulgar (or most uses of the f-word would be totally okay). I can think of a lot of ways to use a swear word that isn't in its literal sense, but where it's still not appropriate in polite conversation.

I didn't say non-anatomical, I said non-vulgar. That's an important difference. Like you said, there are various common swear words that can refer to anatomy, but often don't. Yet, those non-anatomical references are still vulgar. However, just because some words are swear words in multiple meanings doesn't mean that all swear words lack an innocent meaning.

Humble Master wrote:I'm with Foreman, that's definitely used in the vulgar manner. However, as many of us have noted we weren't fully aware of its vulgar meaning, it's entirely possible it was used without full knowledge of all its connotations. But, if anyone is aware of it's vulgar meaning, there is no way that sentence can be read without it seeming like a swear word.

I disagree. When I looked the word up I found two meanings: one vulgar, and the other meaning someone who's a jerk. Rather like twit, actually, which it has now apparently been replaced with. habiba was clearly not making a vulgar reference.

Now maybe the vulgar meaning has completely overshadowed the common one; words do change. (To give a non-vulgar example, I suspect many people (not here, but in general) have no idea that "gay" and "queer" also have meanings that have nothing to do with homosexuality. Again, those are by no means vulgar words; I'm just using them as an example where one meaning has overtaken another.) If that is the case, and everyone except your average LDS person would instantly think of the vulgar meaning, then a change is appropriate.