Young adult books are full of swearing, BYU study says: And characters who curse are more successful, better looking | New York Daily News

[Laurence Horn]

On May 21, 2012, at 7:54 PM, Victor Steinbok wrote:

> Yes and no. Right-wing propaganda and slanted/biased studies coming out
> of BYU? Any day of the week. But NYDN has a left slant,

Really??!?  When did *that* happen?  I remember when the Post was leftish ('50s, '60s), but I thought the News had been rightish then and would be forever.  (We're not talking the Times here, right?)

LH

> not
> right--you're confusing it with the NYPost. You're right on the
> rest--almost. Snooki-hating is favorite pastime of lefty literati too.
> Elites got to hate someone just like the regular folks... Snooki is an
> inviting target, soon to recede into the woodwork of cancelled/completed
> shows. For my part, I make fun of all reality shows--even ones I
> watch--but I don't watch MTV and I've never seen a single episode of
> Jersey Shore. Yet, somehow, I know who Snooki is and what she's known
> for. Reaching audience beyond the demographic target qualifies as
> "famous"--at least, by some criteria. I don't see much point debating
> what famous means, let alone whether Snooki is famous. I can tell you
> stories about "famous" (for many ESL immigrants, if it sounds familiar,
> it's "famous"). But I won't. I just posted an item that I thought was of
> general interest. Take it or leave it, but any calls should be made to
> the BYU complaints department, not to me.
>
>    VS-)
>
> On 5/21/2012 7:09 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>> On Mon, May 21, 2012 at 5:51 PM, Victor Steinbok<aardvark66 at gmail.com>  wrote:
>>> And we wonder why Snooki is famous.
>> This sentence, IMO, reveals this article to be nothing more that
>> right-wing, fundamentalist propaganda. As one who has seen everything
>> that has to do with Jersey Shore and Snooki on MTV and in Star - the
>> sibling of the National Enquirer specializing in all kinds of "news"
>> about "celebrities" - I can tell you that Snooki is in no way "famous"
>> in the relevant sense. What she's best known - but not "famous" - for
>> is  drunkenness, not wearing any underwear, and exposing her
>> "scorched-earth" genitalia to public view, as a consequence thereof.
>>
>> There's no connection between Snooki's lifestyle and the use of
>> random, well-known colloquialisms in literature for "young adults."
>>
>> BTW, how has it come t be the case that the writer of this screed can
>> be familiar both with "bad" words and Snooki, yet be concerned only
>> for the souls of others and not for his own soul?
>>
>> The guardian of morality always seeks to keep others from knowing and
>> being "harmed" by what he himself knows, yet is not harmed thereby.
>>
>> I'm reminded of Bowdler, the Hays Code, the Index of Forbidden Books,
>> and the Legion of Decency, not to mention official censorship by
>> governments.
>>
>> Uh, not that this has anything to do with dialectology.
>>
>> --
>> -Wilson
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org