Swearing

Hey Everyone,
So I thought I'd talk a little bit about swearing today. Yesterday I was on campus and I walked past some construction workers who were swearing quite a lot. I was so surprised cause it's the first time I've heard swearing on campus (other than an accident I once had.) Anyway, it got me to thinking about swearing so here are some thoughts on the matter.

I guess the real question is "why is swearing wrong?" When you think about how we avoid swearing using words like Frick for the F-word, or any other lame substitute it seems kinda weird that swearing is bad. If the word is a substitution it should still cause the person to think of the original word which should cause a similar response in the listener. Also, when you explain what a bad word means the actual meaning of the word can be explained in totally mundane speech without offending anyone, so it's not really the meaning of the word that's offensive...it's the sense of the word.

A brilliant mathematician turned philosopher of language wrote a paper called "On Sense and Nomenatum" where he made an interesting disctinction on this point. He said words don't reference a static meaning, they reference "a sense of the word." By this he meant that when you say a word like "horse" people don't just think of a definition of the word but they reference an overall sense of the word, including horses they've seen, maybe thinking about horse rides, manure etc. This is partly why language is so elusive for many. It's also why there are some girl's names that I find beautiful that are kinda ugly--I've just known beautiful girls with those names and they've changed my overall sense for their names...and it's also why the name Jessica is so hideous.

Also, the way someone feels about a word and their intent in using the word needs to be addressed. Take the statement "I love you." If someone I just met on the street for the first time told me they loved me I'd say "well, appreciate the sentiment," but the meaning of "love" in that sense would be very weak. It has linguistic content but no emotional content. However, if someone in my family told me they loved me it would be a very different thing. As they said the words I'd probably feel a rush of emotion and think of the depth and time invested in our relationship and feel a very strong sense of the word emotionally and linguistically.

What is really weird is how even the moment and the place can change the sense (and thus the meaning) of a word. For example, if I was overlooking Provo valley after a wonderful date (a wonderful date of many) and I was holding her close and I really felt something for her and I finally told her "I love you" for the first time... that would be very different from sharing that revelation in a text message. If both statements are true, and if both statements were inspired because of a steady and beautiful connection you'd think the two would be the same. The reason they're not is because when we're close and overlooking Provo valley we're increaseing the "sense" of the word love by associating the beauty of the moment with the word.

So, if the emotional content, place, and time, create the sense of a word, and thus it's meaning, it's kinda strange to say that swearing is bad (because there may be no negative emotional content or circumstances for a negative sense of the "bad" word). It should be that speaking badly is bad, or speaking meanly or whatever. However, swearing is still bad, if for no other reason than it's taboo speech.

I once had a linguistics class where we spent a few days discussing"taboo speech." It's kinda interesting how taboo speech works cause we sorta collectively choose words to be bad. The way we make them bad is by choosing to restrict their use. We have to do this or the words really aren't bad at all. Swearing works because we say "this is a word you shouldn't use, so if you use it, a rule is being broken." That way, when someone swears, they are making a statement about how they feel about the rule not to use the word, and that statement reflects on how they're using the word--and what they're using the word for. When you swear at someone what you're saying to them is "I'm so mad at you that I am willing to disregard social propriety to fully express my feelings." The disregard for correctness puts a feeling of discomfort in the listener and onlookers, and forces them to re-evaluate the intensity of the speakers emotions.

The problem with this is that when people swear all the time the language stops being taboo. Luckily we have dictionaries and other commentaries on language that keep language relatively static so we can still have some swear words. These resources don't change as quickly as the words in them, because of this, we still have some measure of control over how we perceive words. Just be grateful, if we didn't have dictionaries and such we might have to come up with new swear words every week just to keep things fresh.

Well, I got more to say but I better get some stuff done. Hope you all have a great day.