Showing posts with label swearing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label swearing. Show all posts

Australia Bans Swearing

Swearing is part of Australian culture. Indeed, to be accepted as truly Australian, you have to swear a lot. So it is with great surprise that Australia is bringing in a swearing ban!

The furore has been caused by the airing of Gordan Ramsey's programs on televisions. In 40 minutes he did say the "f" word more than 80 times. This may be excessive. But if one goes into a public bar, particularly when there are men who have done a hard day's grueling labor, such as shearers, the "f" word will be expressed a lot.

The Australian Government has made recommendations to Australian television networks advising them to review the way they set program guidelines "to stop" coarse language. Just how they are going to do this is a mystery considering Ramsey's programs are very popular, swearing or not.

It is said there is a culture of crudeness. Well, This is Australia and this is part of Australian culture.
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Society

To Swear Or Not To Swear

Eighty per cent of people swear every day including children. The little ones don't just get this habit from parents. Some children are awake late at night and hear it on television.

In different eras there are new sets of popular swear words. Words such as "bloody hell" and "bugger" were once really offensive, Today they are not treated as swear words any more. Personally, I find phrases containing the word "shit" quite off-putting. Hearing "bullshit" and "shitloads" tends to create images in the minds of listeners. It makes one move away from the speaker.

The question is - Does swearing do any harm? It does lower the "status" of an occasion if someone begins swearing when everyone else is in formal mode. One wouldn't swear when university degrees are being given, but at the pub swearing is almost expected particularly in the public bar.

Swear words are just sounds like other words. The sounds, however, do have meaning. Policing the use of offensive words would be impossible, People are regularly fined for swearing at police officers. It does not change behavior. They continue to swear afterwards. The more swearing there is, the sooner such words will be accepted in normal speech.
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Society