civil words, at first as part of a quasi-code and then, more popularly, as witty
terms in themselves (i.e. the familiar trouble and strife for wife). Chapter 8-
The Use of Profanity in the Media If these six words are indeed useful, and cannot
be substituted, then why is it that they are used so little in the media? The
answer is fairly simple. Given the freedom, most writers for newspapers and magazines
(and now the increasingly popular e-zine) still would choose not to use profanity
because it wouldn’t make their message any clearer. However, if a situation arose
where it would aid their communication, they would almost definitely use it. So
why is it not allowed? This is because, given the choice between prohibiting profanity
– which would upset very few people (including the writers themselves) — and
letting the writers use whatever vocabulary they see fit — which would cause
at least a small uproar — the media would rather ‘play it safe’ than risk losing
business to those who disapprove. Unfortunately, the cost for the consumer is
that we lose that little bit of information that would have necessitated the use
of profanity. Times are changing, however, and we are regaining the linguistic
freedom that our medieval ancestors had. Actually, it is a circular process. The
more profanity that makes it into the media, the more acclimatized we become to
it, and the less it bothers us, meaning that the writers are given even more freedom
so they use even more profanity, and so on. The same can be said of nearly all
media, including television, theater and radio. Many television situation comedies
and dramas in particular gain from this because they are able to make the situations
more believable by using realistic language. Call-in radio talk shows and television
programs are screening their callers less and less as it becomes easier to get
away with the occasional on-air expletive. Words that used to get books banned
are now commonplace in corporate boardrooms as well as bars. Curiously, the music
industry is one of the slowest to respond to these recent changes. Despite being
the most emotive of the media, using strong language to express strong feelings
is still not considered generally acceptable. Although it is possible to have
an occasional word or two from the ‘big six’ on an album without having to display
the ‘explicit lyrics’ label on the front, which is more than was possible ten
years ago, any more requires the label. Unfortunately, this significantly reduces
the potential audience and can possibly mean that performers never receive the
artistic credit they deserve. However, not all musicians have ignored the recent
revolution in acceptable language. Indeed, there are entire genres of music that
seem to thrive on it. For example, from the early 1970s the popular music world
has been augmented by the genre of ‘rap’, a predominantly black form of social
and political commentary. This genre is rhythmically accentuated and uses markedly
strong language. Contemporary rap artists who can be included in this category
are ‘ice T’, ‘easy E’ and the group ‘2 Live Crew.’ The latter released an album
in 1990 which included numbers with titles such as ‘Bad Ass Bitch’ and ‘Get The
Fuck Out of My House (Bitch)’. Chapter 9- Conclusions In keeping with Samuel Beckett’s
comment: “The air is full of our cries. But habit is a great deadener,” many people
would predict that this popularization of profanity will weaken its effect. Indeed,
this is such a common phenomenon (words such as damn and hell were once just as
taboo as fuck and cunt are today) that it even has its own term in linguistics:
“Verbicide.” Many words have survived verbicide in the past – shit, for example
- but the spread of profanity in the media combined with the recent capability
to distribute this media worldwide might lead to an even larger explosion of profanity,
which might linger for an unusually long time. Nevertheless, the ‘big six’ are
probably not in much danger from recent verbicide because, as H.C. Wyld said:
“It seems to be the case that the serious oaths survive longest… while each
age produces its own ephemeral formulas of mere light expletive and asservation.”
One can conclude therefore that these words will only fade from our vocabulary
when popular usage moves from “serious oath” to the realm of “light expletive,”
not an event in the forseeable future. It should be clear that, although profanity
usually does succeed in offending, that is not always its purpose and certainly
not why it should be considered useful. These six words have not only the grammatical
place and function in English, but also a purpose in communication in general.
Even when used as expletives, perhaps as a method of relieving built up tension
orally rather than physically, these six words are still useful to the speaker.
There is more meaning packed into one fuck then ten maybes. Describing a man as
a cunt says just as much about the speaker as it does the man. ‘Taking a piss’
doesn’t mean the same thing as urinating. There is no word more useful than a
word that communicates simply, precisely and effectively, which is why these words
are not only useful, but irreplaceable.
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