[via Sydney Morning Herald] "Too dirty for words" (re: taboo)

[Drew Danielson]

article found at -
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/07/08/1057430185294.html


Too dirty for words - July 8 2003

My oath ... Sir Les Patterson and Liam Gallagher could soon be running
out of options.

Everyday conversation is now so foul-mouthed that only a handful of
words can be considered truly taboo, according to the authors of the new
edition of the Collins English Dictionary.

"Bollocks" and "gangbang" are among 70 words described in earlier
editions of the dictionary as "taboo" that have now been downgraded to
"slang".

There are now, it appears, only 16 taboo words in use in English,
including the f-word and c-word.

According to Collins, the use of asterisks to soften the effects of
industrial Anglo-Saxon may soon become a historical nicety as modern
discourse sinks ever deeper into the mire.

Collins examined hundreds of millions of words of conversation used in
the media to decide what is now acceptable in day-to-day language.
According to the publishers, many of those considered taboo in 2000 have
been used with such frequency in the intervening years that they have
ceased to have "shock value".

Some have skipped the slang category altogether to become mere
"informal" expressions.

Jeremy Butterfield, the dictionary's editor, explained: "There is a
certain amount of subjectivity about this. It is not automatically the
case that repeated use 'de-taboos' words."

So, what gives the taboos their tabooness?

"It's to do with the majority view that such and such a word is not
acceptable. There can be new taboo words, not ones to do with body
parts, but ones addressing race or sexuality."

Of course, the whole thing could be a ploy to gain a few column inches
and sell a few more dictionaries.

A load of *!@!**@!, to be exact.

[I guess SMH got this article via]
The Telegraph, London



-- DREW DANIELSON <andrew.danielson at cmu.edu> http://pcdrew.ece.cmu.edu/
The "Do Not Bomb" Registry - http://www.dnbr.us/
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