When I was a kid, I had a little plaque hanging up on my bedroom wall. It had a poem on it. I have no idea who wrote the poem or where it came from, but it was hanging on my wall for so long I memorized it.
Never say die, say "damn!" It isn't poetic, it may be profane, but we mortals have need of it, time and again. And you'll find you recover from Fate's hardest slams, if you never say die, say "damn!"
Supposedly "profane" language is language that communicates quickly and effectively. It's shunned because it's particularly well-suited to conveying unruly emotions--messy, untidy emotions that some folks would like to pretend don't exist.
But they do, and "vulgar" language is singularly eloquent in expressing them.
There is tremendous nuance in vulgarity. If I call someone a hopeless fuckmuppet, that conveys a different meaning than if I say they're a hopeless fuckwit or a hopeless fuckhead. Each of these communicates disdain, to be sure, and in a far more visceral way than saying "I rather do believe that chap is quite distressingly incompetent at going about this business of life," but those few syllables after the vulgarity carry a great deal of subtlety and differentiation.
People who fear vulgar language fear life, for it is a fact not easily overlooked that some parts of life are vulgar.
Read other answers by Franklin Veaux on Quora:
- Why do some people use profanity when they can articulate the same thing in a much more elegant sophisticated way without the risk of offending others?
- I'm wealthy and attribute my success to positive thinking ala Napoleon Hill. Am I wrong to think that unsuccessful people are losers?
- Why do some people want to be immortal?
from Quora http://ift.tt/2jOHYiu
No comments:
Post a Comment