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That reminds me... i use the slang term "bloody" quite often, though i'm not exactly sure where i picked it up. is it considered offensive in england, or elsewhere? my usage of it is always as an adjective (eg: i couldn't get the bloody lock open), usually to convey mild disdain or frustration. i *never* swear, so i hope it's not a really "bad" word.
The impression I've gotten was that "blood" was like saying "damn", so it depends on the person. And "bloomin" is to "bloody" what "darn" is to "damn". I'm not a brit, though, so maybe someone else will correct me?
Ali
Bingley
Bingley
Surely bloody used to be far worse though. At least according to 'My Fair Lady' is was.
but most "4 letter" words where okay-- but blasphemy was not-- the first three commandment were obeyed in our household--- most of the remaining seven too, but not like the first three.--
Surely bloody used to be far worse though. At least according to 'My Fair Lady' is was.
Certainly, it was. In the Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language David Crystal reproduces the shock horror newspaper reports on the first performance of Pygmalion (George Bernard Shaw's play, which was the source for My Fair Lady). I can't give you the page no. because I'm at work and the book's at home but YCLIU easily enough.
Bingley
Bingley
It has, I must emphasise, completely lost any sexual deviancy connotations it ever had. Most youngsters these days wouldn't even know that it had ever meant anything else.
And we're damned hypocritical about these words and their usage anyway. Just lately I've noticed an almost complete break down of the inhibitions about using "fuck" in front of women. This is mostly because women tend to use it themselves in mixed company without any self-consciousness at all. Effectively, this word which still offends so many is losing/has lost its sexual connotations as well. Other words have taken over that role. In a documentary on TV the other day about a well-known New Zealand actor, one of the interviewees was telling the story about a bus breaking down, the driver disappearing under the vehicle for a look-see and emerging to announce "Well, the fuckin' fucker's fucked!". Where's the sex in that? I shall, however, treasure its succinct, to-the-point clarity for ever!
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
*wow*. that's certainly not the case here in the States, at least not the part i'm from. if a woman in mixed company should utter that word in any situation other than perhaps an off-color joke (and said with the appropriate blush), i'd think the host should've taken more care with the guest list.
we have one male friend who makes compulsive and liberal use of that word, and i tolerate it because i must and because i've known him just short of forever. however, if a new acquaintance used that word capriciously in my presence, i'd be offended.
I realise that. America's innate conservatism is easily discerned here, where we get Australian, British and American TV in roughly equal proportions.
As for managing guest lists, the women I hear the use of obscenities from most are not necessarily on mine, but work around me ... highly educated (in some respects) but, as my dear old mum, who's dead at the moment would say, they weren't brought up, they were dragged up backwards through a gorse bush.
Although I've probably mentioned it before, you have to realise that women's lib got taken very seriously here in Zild and with a few exceptions on that malleable list of general demands which libbers failed to burn along with their bras, has succeeded. That includes, apparently, the right to say exactly what they want to say and to say it exactly how they want to say it!
Really, though, it goes much deeper than just language, it's the philosophy of life behind the language. Most of the women in their twenties who work for our company are the daughters of women who are my age. Those women imparted the 60's/70's female ideology to their kids with perhaps predictable results.
For a lot of my female contemporaries, it was an attitude adopted to make a point, for their daughters it's just normal behaviour. Where once only men prowled the bars looking for one-night stands, women have not only taken up the hobby but are quite comfortable announcing to all within earshot that that is their intention. One female colleague from a few years ago announced then that when she wanted a child, she'd find a suitable father and has since just done that - but she never intended that the relationship should extend beyond the donation of sperm, and it didn't.
And the luxury of being able to take this attitude stems from their high disposable incomes. In Zild, women professionals negotiate and receive salaries at the same level as men. They often expect to have their babies and within a month or two return to work. Or, as in one rather memorable case at our firm, intend to stay home permanently but get bored and come back to work within a couple of WEEKS. Babies are minded by grandmothers, nannies or creches. The incidence of fathers giving up work and staying home to do the child-rearing in on the increase as well.
The skills some of these women have are such that most firms, including mine, subsidise creche care and expect that mum will just pop out to feed Junior. One creche in central Wellington is apparently chock full with the offspring of IT professionals. The mothers, who are from different and often competing firms, network and, oh, dear!
So there has been some "defeminisation". The female professionals work hard and play hard, with or without the men. They work in the same high pressure environments and suffer the same kinds of frustration that their male counterparts do. The rest, as they say, is history!
[/rant]
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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