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View Poll Results: Do you think the world is going mad with political correctness?
I kept chickens for a while. When we bought in point-of-lay pullets they would, er, advertise their "consent" to just about anything that moved. It's only when they got older that they either played hard-to-get, or lost interest, or "consented" so subtly that only the cockerel could tell. (Probably one of the three, I'm no cock.)
We did eat a couple of roosters that we thought were getting too rough with the hens. I wonder if Almas Veganas would approve.
As a small-scale organic farmer, i tried it both ways: one rooster for every 6 to 12 hens, and no roosters. The former was much better from the standpoint of the hens' well-being (and 'happiness'?). The rooster served to provide flock cohesion, and, on at least two occasions defended one or more hens from predation, suffering injury to himself in the process.
Distribution: Currently: OpenMandriva. Previously: openSUSE, PCLinuxOS, CentOS, among others over the years.
Posts: 3,881
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hazel
Done!
It'll be interesting to see how the poll turns out.
The problem with "political correctness" is for one; what offends one, doesn't necessarily offend someone else. It doesn't speak for the intent behind a statement, for example, and to use the politically correct term; one "African-American" saying "hey nigger" to another likely wouldn't be taken as offense, yet if it was a white person saying that to an "African-American", then it would very likely be taken as racist (I'm NOT saying people should be racist either, and personally I don't support it myself).
I remember working with a guy who said "fu*k" every second word, but he was a really nice bloke. The biggest problem was that you would be laughing that much it was hard to do any work. But I also remember one lady in the same situation who made a point about the fact she hates swearing. So you had to watch everything you said around her, but she was a nice lady all the same.
I do find the differences in swear words interesting on the two sides of the Atlantic: Words that generate a gasp on one side and a "what?" on the other.
I find the entire concept of cursing or swear words to be completely absurd and based in antiquity when the majority of people in the world were illiterate and words were imagined to have actual magical power and also from even earlier concepts from superstition. Words are entirely symbolic so if the thing itself is not offensive how can a symbol of that thing be offensive? How is it that the word "garbage" is somewhat crude but English speakers saying it with a phony French accent - garBAGE (soft second "g") is somehow less crude or "stinky".
It's quite odd that I can't escape my programming in that people that cannot speak a single sentence without curse words strike me as less educated and more crude but it still makes no sense why there is any difference at all between crap, caca, merde, manure or shit since they all describe exactly the same thing. Crazy stuff.
I find the entire concept of cursing or swear words to be completely absurd and based in antiquity when the majority of people in the world were illiterate and words were imagined to have actual magical power and also from even earlier concepts from superstition. Words are entirely symbolic so if the thing itself is not offensive how can a symbol of that thing be offensive? How is it that the word "garbage" is somewhat crude but English speakers saying it with a phony French accent - garBAGE (soft second "g") is somehow less crude or "stinky".
It's quite odd that I can't escape my programming in that people that cannot speak a single sentence without curse words strike me as less educated and more crude but it still makes no sense why there is any difference at all between crap, caca, merde, manure or shit since they all describe exactly the same thing. Crazy stuff.
Swearing is slightly lazy - there is an art in expressing something like "shit" using no swear words. E.g. Shakespeare wrote: "The rankest compound of villainous smell that ever offended nostril!". Sounds smarter at least!
Out of interest, if I were going to cook a chicken stew using breasts, would I bake them first or could I just dice them and put them in the stock?
I ususally just dice & stock, but sometimes, if I feel like a bit more effort, give the pieces a quick sear just before doing the onions. No real difference to my taste.
I find the entire concept of cursing or swear words to be completely absurd and based in antiquity when the majority of people in the world were illiterate and words were imagined to have actual magical power and also from even earlier concepts from superstition. Words are entirely symbolic so if the thing itself is not offensive how can a symbol of that thing be offensive? How is it that the word "garbage" is somewhat crude but English speakers saying it with a phony French accent - garBAGE (soft second "g") is somehow less crude or "stinky".
It's quite odd that I can't escape my programming in that people that cannot speak a single sentence without curse words strike me as less educated and more crude but it still makes no sense why there is any difference at all between crap, caca, merde, manure or shit since they all describe exactly the same thing. Crazy stuff.
In real life I guess I can be considered a heavy user of swearwords. As someone who works in an office at a computer all day, it often feels like the use of swearwords is the only connection I have left to my upbringing in an industrial/blue collar town. Colour me crude and less educated. I'm fine with it, I'm not ashamed of my origins.
However, I do agree that the concept of swearwords is absurd. They're just a combination of letters like every other word. It's how you use them. Non-swearword words can cause just as much upset and offence, and truth be told, a whole lot more. Trust me, I have some not so proud moments in my past where swearwords weren't used.
The other ridiculous thing about swearwords: There is a particular one that stops a large number of people of particular country dead in their tracks. It's about the worst atrocity they've witnessed, there is nothing worse that could possibly happen. In at least 3 other countries the same word is often used as a term of endearment.
I wouldn't be too sure dude, for example there are plenty of "Men shouldn't hold doors open for women" type articles.
My MO is if the door opens towards me, then I let the person on the opposite side through first, if there is a person behind me, and they'll get to me in less than about 5-10 seconds or so I'll wait and hold the door for them. This is irrespective of gender, but should I just do that for men now? I mean individual women aren't going to know that I do the same for men.
I ususally just dice & stock, but sometimes, if I feel like a bit more effort, give the pieces a quick sear just before doing the onions. No real difference to my taste.
OK good idea, I'll try that, thank you. Nice.
Quote:
Originally Posted by enorbet
I find the entire concept of cursing or swear words to be completely absurd and based in antiquity when the majority of people in the world were illiterate and words were imagined to have actual magical power and also from even earlier concepts from superstition. Words are entirely symbolic so if the thing itself is not offensive how can a symbol of that thing be offensive? How is it that the word "garbage" is somewhat crude but English speakers saying it with a phony French accent - garBAGE (soft second "g") is somehow less crude or "stinky".
It's quite odd that I can't escape my programming in that people that cannot speak a single sentence without curse words strike me as less educated and more crude but it still makes no sense why there is any difference at all between crap, caca, merde, manure or shit since they all describe exactly the same thing. Crazy stuff.
I think part of the problem nowadays is that swearing has become so common as to have lost a lot most of its original effect. The point of expletives was to usher in some ultra-offensive emphasis to the conversational point one was making or to add spike to an insult. However, the word 'fuck' has become so common now that it's freely printed in daily newspapers here in the UK. I hear children of single-digit ages saying it on the street, and parents saying it to their children. So now we are somewhat left questioning not only the effectiveness but the point of such words. However, the see-you-next-Tuesday word still retains a large amount of its intended weight [hence why I shan't write it]. There are still many people I know who will not only wince when they hear it, but forbid the utterer from repeating it.
I find the most effective expletives are those with hard consonants, specifically 't', which it's easy to lend venomous effect to. Even though it's not technically a swear word, I find 'slut' to be particularly good. Conversely, even though it doesn't utilise the hard consonant rule, and it's not an expletive either, I've always found 'whore' to be particularly emphatic, there's something about the sound of the word that's totally demeaning. I think the best swear words, and swear phrases are in other languages, especially Spanish. I won't repeat here some of things I've heard my Argentinian associates say, but they're way worse than any stock English phrase.
You'll find that people with a love of literature have a love of language of all kinds. I had a very articulate English teacher at school whose knowledge of the classics was impressive - as was his application of cursing.
Last edited by Lysander666; 09-05-2019 at 03:57 AM.
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