[Ads-l] mild language (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Andy Bach]

And, to point out, the n-word is being used in dialog between gamblers from
the 1800s or sometime:
Brooks's Club house rules. No IOUs.
Amongst gentlemen, perhaps,but Wilberforce is a tradesman.
You gamble with what you have with you.Wilberforce, will you take my IOU?-
We split the pot and call it evens.-
To hell with that. Payment in kind.There's nothing you have I'd want, Your
Grace.
Tarleton, fetch my nigger.My coach driver.Go and wake him up and bring him
in now.I bought a nigger in Port of Spain.He eats better than I do, so he's
strong as an ox.He'd fetch at least 25 guineas at the West India Dock.

So, like Huck Finn etc, it gets a pass as "historically correct" or
something?


On Thu, Dec 19, 2019 at 3:07 PM MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY CCDC
AVMC (USA) <0000099bab68be9a-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
>
> When I was in high school (1970s), the f-word was what I perceived as the
> most taboo word in English.  Now I'd say the n-word is.  And my perception
> is that it is more taboo now than it was in 2006.
>
> I've read many times that a single use of the f-word in a movie is an
> automatic R-rating (but that often an appeal will pull it back to PG-13,
> depending on circumstances).  I've never heard that the MPAA has similar
> absolute standards with respect to the n-word.
>
> This
> https://www.scripts.com/script-pdf/2638
> is supposedly the script for "Amazing Grace".  The n-word appears twice in
> it (and "damn" and "hell" a few times).  OTOH, "Do the Right Thing"
> https://www.scripts.com/script-pdf/642
> has the f-word over 60 times, and the n-word 8 times.  "True Romance"
> https://www.scripts.com/script-pdf/735
> has the n-word 25 times and the f-word 134 times.
>
> So maybe the number of times taboo words are used also influences whether
> a movie's language is "strong" or "mild".
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> On Behalf Of
> > Wilson Gray
> > Sent: Thursday, December 19, 2019 2:59 AM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: [Non-DoD Source] Re: mild language
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Dec 18, 2019 at 10:32 AM James Landau
> > <jjjrlandau at netscape.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > I posted my post on ADS-L in hopes of getting some feedback.  So far
> > > you are the only person who has responded.  Thank you.
> > >
> > > Could I ask you to please post your response on ADS-L?
> > >
> > > James Landau
> > > jjjrlandau at netscape.com
> > >
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com>
> > > To: Jim Landau <JJJRLandau at netscape.com>
> > > Sent: Tue, Dec 17, 2019 12:56 am
> > > Subject: Re: mild language
> > >
> > > > Mild?
> > > "Harsh" is probably a more appropriate descriptor.
> > >
> > > On Sun, Nov 17, 2019 at 10:21 AM James A. Landau
> > > <JJJRLandau at netscape.com>
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > I just enjoyed seeing the move Amazing Grace (the 2006 movie about
> > > William Wilberforce, not the 2018 Aretha Franklin movie).
> > >
> > > The movie was rated PG for "thematic material involving slavery, and
> > > some mild language".
> > >
> > > The "language" was mostly the use of the N-word (by participants in
> > > the slave trade).
> > >
> > > Mild?
> > >
> > > - Jim Landau
> > >
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > -Wilson
> > > -----
> > > All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
> > > to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> > > -Mark Twain
> > >
> > >
> >
> > --
> > -Wilson
> > -----
> > All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
> come
> > from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> > -Mark Twain
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>
> CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


-- 

a

Andy Bach,
afbach at gmail.com
608 658-1890 cell
608 261-5738 wk

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