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Words have meaning.
It's the meaning we give them, true. And that meaning is subject to change over time.
Take "zounds." It was a shortened, slurred version of "God's wounds," and it was once considered a serious obscenity. Over time, that meaning was eroded until the word became something cartoon characters said. And then it became too silly even for that.
The meaning is similarly being eroded from modern obscenities. That's natural, part of the evolution of our culture and language. I don't think it stands as a sign of moral decay.
But those words haven't been replaced. And that's a problem because obscenity has its place, its use.
Me, I curse. Very rarely. I use those words for the times when the situation really calls for it. So that they mean something when I do. More generally, I use things like "dammit" or "crap," or, when things are a few steps worse than that, "frak." (Which used to be "frag," but naturally shifted thanks to BSG.)
Because of that, I still hear those words as obscenities. I have a gut reaction to them. Literally. I hear my mother use the s-word, and my gut clenches for a moment. It's a sickening word.
To me, anyway. In popular culture, it's becoming just another word to color your speech. It's not even "edgy" anymore. Hasn't been for years. And there's nothing to replace it. Nothing that counts as a real obscenity that isn't a racial slur or something. I don't know what we can do about that.
Meantime, the same thing is happening to the word "fail." I've talked about that a bit before, I think. "Fail" is supposed to mean that, well... you fail. It's an F on your report card. It's a damning assessment by your boss or commander. It's a declaration not just that you weren't good enough, but that the inadequacy of your efforts has led to the worst possible outcome.
But now, you go to Failblog, and it's just casually tossed around. "Fail" doesn't mean "you screwed up on a critical level," it means "haha, you made a mistake" or "oops, you overlooked a silly double entendre." And everyone comes around and laughs and points at the poor sucker who did something a little silly and says "you fail!"
Partly, that's the word losing it's meaning. Partly, is that it's much easier and more comfortable to criticize someone, to mock them, to shame them, to yell at them, and/or to degrade them on the faceless 'net.
Point is, though, that the word has meaning. And I respect that meaning. Or cling to it, if you prefer. But I don't use it unless it really seems called for. So that it actually means something when I say:
I fail at life.
It's the meaning we give them, true. And that meaning is subject to change over time.
Take "zounds." It was a shortened, slurred version of "God's wounds," and it was once considered a serious obscenity. Over time, that meaning was eroded until the word became something cartoon characters said. And then it became too silly even for that.
The meaning is similarly being eroded from modern obscenities. That's natural, part of the evolution of our culture and language. I don't think it stands as a sign of moral decay.
But those words haven't been replaced. And that's a problem because obscenity has its place, its use.
Me, I curse. Very rarely. I use those words for the times when the situation really calls for it. So that they mean something when I do. More generally, I use things like "dammit" or "crap," or, when things are a few steps worse than that, "frak." (Which used to be "frag," but naturally shifted thanks to BSG.)
Because of that, I still hear those words as obscenities. I have a gut reaction to them. Literally. I hear my mother use the s-word, and my gut clenches for a moment. It's a sickening word.
To me, anyway. In popular culture, it's becoming just another word to color your speech. It's not even "edgy" anymore. Hasn't been for years. And there's nothing to replace it. Nothing that counts as a real obscenity that isn't a racial slur or something. I don't know what we can do about that.
Meantime, the same thing is happening to the word "fail." I've talked about that a bit before, I think. "Fail" is supposed to mean that, well... you fail. It's an F on your report card. It's a damning assessment by your boss or commander. It's a declaration not just that you weren't good enough, but that the inadequacy of your efforts has led to the worst possible outcome.
But now, you go to Failblog, and it's just casually tossed around. "Fail" doesn't mean "you screwed up on a critical level," it means "haha, you made a mistake" or "oops, you overlooked a silly double entendre." And everyone comes around and laughs and points at the poor sucker who did something a little silly and says "you fail!"
Partly, that's the word losing it's meaning. Partly, is that it's much easier and more comfortable to criticize someone, to mock them, to shame them, to yell at them, and/or to degrade them on the faceless 'net.
Point is, though, that the word has meaning. And I respect that meaning. Or cling to it, if you prefer. But I don't use it unless it really seems called for. So that it actually means something when I say:
I fail at life.
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I'm curious what you mean by "obscenity", though. Do you mean curse words in general, or only sexualised curse words? I think the meaning of sexualised ones is diminishing because our culture in general is no longer so puritan and repressed, because sex is no longer a forbidden subject, and because there are active movements to reclaim some of the words that have been used to denigrate others, like slut, fag, bitch, etc. (I find it so peculiar that so many words that were *not* objectional words a few centuries ago became objectional; as recently as Shakespeare's days cunt wasn't a specific bad word, and "country matters" was understood as a slang pun about sex. )
My mother was very fond of frack back in the 80s; she could use it in the ER with no one taking offense. *g*
And no, you don't -- the only way to fail at life is to die. :p
I rarely curse since traditional strong curse words are triggery as one of my abusers used them. But I've always like "criminy" and variants (criminently, criminenty, etc), ARGH (or GRRRR ARGGGH), "good gravy!", and other ones that may sound silly, but express frustration and anger for me. And that's what (for me) they're for, so it works. But I don't think any of them are obscene (including the triggery ones); they're just words.
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Hadn't heard of "country matters" and the evolution of that associated word before. That's amusing and interesting. Thanks. :)
Come to think, I am aware of a couple of other words like that. "Boner," for example, used to be a mild word meaning "embarrassing mistake." Which led to the now-amusing case of Batman's Boner.
But yeah, I meant curse words in general. I think my usage pretty much fits the dictionary definition. The aforementioned s-word, for example. Also the f-word, of course, which isn't always used sexually.
And of course they're just words. But they're words with meaning and purpose. As I said, it's natural for that to evolve, but something needs to fill the niche left behind. You can use "good gravy!" and it serves the purpose for you. And anyone who knows you knows what you mean. But, in the larger picture, I think we need words that we all (or anyone who speaks our dialect, anyway) understand have that place.
As for failing at life - so far, you're the only person to realize that I meant that line as more than just an example. Or, at least, the only one to comment on it. Which isn't necessarily the same thing. But I disagree with your conclusion. The only way to fail at living is to die.
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♥!
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And yeah, it was used in old comic books and cartoons. It sounds silly when you say it, but isn't an obvious swear word. And its Shakespearean origins led it to sometimes be applied to characters with archaic speech patterns.
Sad to say I couldn't find an image of them saying it, though. Comic book fans who use it as a username, people referring to it having been used, that sort of thing. It was, for example, included here as a supposed onomatopoeia. It was also taken as the company name of the people who made these comic book headphones.
Oh, and it also turns out that it was the name of a 70's British rock band.
Strange, how the word's been used...