Posted by mist on April 3, 2002, at 21:55:53
In reply to Re: Civility vs. Propriety – Words, posted by mair on April 3, 2002, at 7:46:27
I don't use a lot of four-letter words either but I find writers who use them at least occasionally in their writing (including posters on internet boards, published professional writers, and anyone in between) more vital and engaging overall than those who don't. (And I've never used that type of language on the internet myself—for my own reasons, but that's my personal choice and not something I would ever dream of imposing on anyone else.)
A word that offends me is "riff-raff" because it's commonly used to denigrate groups of people based on socioeconomic status and perceived (judged, really) lifestyle. Once a wealthy, churchgoing wife of a business executive I knew exclaimed about "the language!" some people on the street had used, and apparently would rather have died than to utter a four letter word herself (at least in public). Yet she (and her husband) on more than one occasion referred to other people as riff-raff simply because they couldn't afford to live in the same part of town these paragons of (Puritan) societal virtue did or send their kids to the same exclusionary schools.
Of two of the most commonly-used four letter words, one describes a sexual act and the other the elimination of bodily waste. I think it's much more offensive to dismiss whole groups of people with dehumanizing labels based on shallow values and a lack of compassion or understanding of others' experience, than to use language, however irreverent, with associations of bodily functions. But someone could post here about "riff-raff" as long as it wasn't referring to the other posters and it would be accepted (which I personally wouldn't object to even though I'd find it offensive because I'm opposed to censorship).
If a post is confrontational to the point of being uncivil than the question should be one of civility—which is a whole other debate—not the words being used. -mist
poster:mist
thread:3683
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20020308/msgs/3791.html