I bet the title will probably make my mom worry a bit. Well, I've been wondering, what makes a bad word a bad word? Some bad words don't really mean anything. And how do bad words become bad words? This isn't as long of a post as I thought it would be. Oh well.
Hi Samuel,
ReplyDeleteIt's a funny thing... I guess bad words are just words that make other people feel bad, even if they feel good when you say them.
I really don't know why, but I feel bad when I hear bad words... maybe the artist in me doesn't like them because they are uncreative and unpleasant and unproductive and usually represent an expression of anger or put downs or meanness... but I guess I mostly don't like them because they were usually created to represent a bad feeling.
One of my favorite young people that worked with me in the Post Office in McCook (where I met your Grandpa Larry) used the "F" word in every other sentence... and one day she said to me, "I really hate hearing my 2 year old say the 'F' word. I wish I could be like you." and a few years later she succeeded! She learned to control her tongue and later became the Postmaster of another Post Office and sent me Christmas cards every year thanking me for my friendship. She had grown up using bad words to express herself and had never learned how to speak creatively and carefully.
I like your blog. It's good to talk about things you are thinking about because it makes other people think about what they think too. ;)
I like that comment about bad words being bad because they are used to make people feel bad. If they don't hurt people, then they aren't bad, right? Crude words or vulgar words might make people feel bad if it makes them think about gross things that they weren't otherwise thinking about. "Squirrel poop" for example, makes me think of gross-ness, whereas "purring kitty" makes me think of happy things.
ReplyDeleteI could call you a "dork" and mean it as a compliment, like "creative, artistic, individual." Or, I could call you "proud", and mean it as a great compliment (strong, noble, mature, under control), or as an extreme putdown (stubborn, unwilling to change, not interested in learning or loving). So I guess the meanings behind the word is the main thing that makes it a good or bad word.
Wow. Those must be some of the longest comments I've ever had.
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