Language and mild language (was: Racial epithet...)

Neal Whitman nwhitman at AMERITECH.NET
Fri Jul 9 19:19:26 UTC 2010


I wonder if "language" is better or worse than "mild language". As I wrote a
few years ago:

"This movie is rated PG for mild language. And let me tell you, when they
say 'mild language,' they're not talking about the soothing monologues of
the late Mr. Rogers, or the news from Lake Wobegon. If you watch a movie
with mild language, I'm warning you, you're liable to hear a damn or a
hell!"
http://literalminded.wordpress.com/2005/03/06/mild-language/

Neal

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dan Goncharoff" <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Friday, July 09, 2010 11:15 AM
Subject: Re: Racial epithet makes news


> ---------------------- Information from the mail
> header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Racial epithet makes news
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> When I watch movie previews, I usually get a chuckle out of the
> explanation provided for the rating of the preview. I have noticed that
> one of the explanations is "language", sans modifier. It looks funny
> when written.
>
> DanG

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