tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post1894840682533898417..comments2024-03-18T10:29:46.055+00:00Comments on Ken Armstrong Writing Stuff: Fook, Not That Count AgainKen Armstronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07775956557261111127noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-83389973202895634772011-10-01T14:28:31.268+01:002011-10-01T14:28:31.268+01:00Hi Jeanette: If the word is exclusively a bullyin...Hi Jeanette: If the word is exclusively a bullying word then I have no time for that at all. I would want to use it to bully the Bullies. :)<br /><br />Art: Frak is good. I don't use it but I like how the Battlestar people do it. They should have 'Crat' for more eernest moments. :)<br /><br />Cath: I love ya, mate, but we know that already. :)Ken Armstronghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07775956557261111127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-54620772151552080042011-09-28T19:47:37.246+01:002011-09-28T19:47:37.246+01:00None of my family swear, and in fact none of my fr...None of my family swear, and in fact none of my friends as I grew up did either. An old university friend really got me into it. I remember hearing her talk to her mum on the phone "and he's a right cunt"... and the legendary story of her (retired) mum calling the local vicar a motherfucker. At 19 I was so shocked and delighted I could have clapped my hands. I hung around her a lot and it passed on, so now ever second word is a swear word. It's not big and it's not clever but it's just me, and I'm at peace with it. (Funnily enough I can switch into "family" mode with no problem, but only with my actual family.Cathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15634263055766239690noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-74260318722932265012011-09-26T04:59:16.620+01:002011-09-26T04:59:16.620+01:00I've become rather fond of "frak" fr...I've become rather fond of "frak" from Battlestar: Galactica. It's useful and it passes most censors.<br /><br />But Jim's right: ANY word can be made into a swear word, not just the familiar Anglo-Saxon four-lettered ones. It all depends on intent and delivery. I play this game with one or tow friends of mine, basically insulting each other back and forth till we get to "Republican," which is a nasty word in our current lexicon, and hard to top. It's a game, as I said.<br /><br />I swear all the time, for effect, for emphasis. When I swear I'm venting emotion. That's the whole purpose, it seems to me. Sometimes other words just aren't strong enough, when you need to get it out of your system.Art Durkeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07463180236975988432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-88077416451901753572011-09-26T00:41:34.015+01:002011-09-26T00:41:34.015+01:00Most of the people I've known who use "co...Most of the people I've known who use "count" here in the US direct it at women, and direct it in gender-specific, incredibly degrading way. So it then is not a simple swear word like fook or shot or mother-fooker. My guess is perhaps across the ocean, it is used differently. I don't use dock or count. Ever. But they are the only ones. In fact, my first job out of college, sitting in one of those wide open rooms with about twelve other people at their desks, I ripped a snap out form of printing specs that was 18 inches long and had cross notes and complicated instructions. (Before the days of computerized forms, etc.) I screamed, "FOOK!" very loudly. My big boss came out of his glassed in cubicle to stare at me over his glasses. I slid as low in my chair as I could.<br /><br />Next day my desk was facing a corner and there was a dunce cap they made me wear. That has been my favorite swear before and since.JeannetteLShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13528285846408727632noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-54604293741514868792011-09-25T21:43:03.125+01:002011-09-25T21:43:03.125+01:00Jim: Good point - that any word with the 'swea...Jim: Good point - that any word with the 'swear intent' can become a swear. A friend on Twitter pointed to the film 'Casino' and De Niro's use of the word 'Pig' which is as sweary as anything anywhere.<br /><br />Hope: I could see how the slightest hint of rudeness from you would be enough to do the trick. :)Ken Armstronghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07775956557261111127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-90864785700649474682011-09-25T15:34:25.584+01:002011-09-25T15:34:25.584+01:00I never swore until I went to work with State poli...I never swore until I went to work with State policemen. Something about opinionated men with guns and handcuffs got taken down a notch with a simple, "damn!" from me. Was quite effective.<br /><br />Then again, I grew up in the south, where "ladies" don't go potty mouth. Which is why a friend's father allowed us to use "Son of a biscuit eater!" when things got bad. :)hopehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03306622656461205674noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-45791683041798028602011-09-25T13:18:20.268+01:002011-09-25T13:18:20.268+01:00I rarely swear. I never grew up around people who ...I rarely swear. I never grew up around people who swore and I was taught that swearing was wrong but I don’t think that’s why I don’t swear because as a young man my brother swore like a trooper, in fact, when he was working for ICI, he told me, “Jimmy, if I don’t swear every second sentence no one knows what I’m talking about.” I agree though that context and intent have a lot to do with the power of any word. It’s like when Didi and Gogo exchange insults:<br /><br /> ESTRAGON: Curate! <br /> VLADIMIR: Cretin! <br /> ESTRAGON: (with finality). Crritic! <br /><br />Neither swears but ‘critic’ is treated as if it was a swearword. Would think have been funnier if Beckett had chosen to use your word ‘count’ or would something have been lost perhaps? He uses the word elsewhere in his writing so it’s not as if he was a prude and I’m led to believe his day to day language was often peppered with expletives.<br /><br />There is a novel by Robert Silverberg that had a tremendous effect on me when I first read it. It’s called <i>A Time of Changes</i> and it’s set on an alien world where talking in the first person is regarded as swearing. It’s also the novel that gave me the wonderful expression “soul pissing” in reference to their form of confession; the only time where one can people themselves up is with a “drainer”. <br /><br /><i>Cunnus</i> was the basic Latin word for the vulva. It’s always puzzled me that ‘count’ is regarded as just about <i>the</i> worst swear word there is. I wonder what the Latin swear words were like? (Actually there’s no need to wonder because there’s a whole <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_profanity" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia article</a> on the subject.)<br /><br>Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.com