pardon this, codger!

[Bob Haas]

Ron, you put this just about as nicely (in its more early sense) and politely as
one possibly could, and still your point is not realized by some members of the
list.  That's their prerogative, yet I hope that they realize that communication
is a two-way street and sometimes the receivers put up the roadblocks.  It's a
freakin' shame.  (Was that cursing?  They say freakin' on TV, but I've got to
say, I just don't think it has the same "oomph" of the original, whatever that
may be.  I wouldn't know.)  ;->

cheers

RonButters at AOL.COM wrote:

> "Rationalization"? huh? Well, heck, THIS seems like the product of "an exteme
> paucity of vocabulary"!
>
> But seriously, isn't it the case that,when people use taboo words in
> conversation it is rarely because they do not know the more polite
> alternatives (as Dennis Preston so brilliantly pointed out earlier)? Nor is
> it necessarily an attempt to offend. In general, if taboo words are NOT used
> beligerently, their function is to signal casualness, friendliness, and
> intimacy. Variably they also serve as masculinity markers. There are other
> uses as well. These uses are important--if they weren't the words would drop
> out of the language (at any rate, I can't think of any words that can ONLY be
> used to offend and not to create solidarity--even FUCK YOU, FAGGOT! can be
> used in a friendly way). But people do not always judge situations the same
> way with respect to what is called for (or permitted) in the way of taboo
> markers.
>
> So the listeners get pissed.

--

Bob Haas
Department of English
University of North Carolina at Greensboro

                        "Shun the frumious Bandersnatch!"