Movies And Their Profanity

[Tony in Tarzana]

Can one say "Fakakta" (sp?) here? I like it, it has those "K" sounds, and as we all know, the "K" sound is funny.

 

[Diamondback]

I curse in Yiddish a lot, but I'm sad I can't remember the Italian my grandmother "taught" me as a kid. (By riding shotgun in her tiny, badly driven car. lol )

Now those sound like some interesting curses to learn--willing to take on a somewhat older student, young lady?

As for international invective, I only know one in Russian--but it's a good one! lol (So good, I shan't use it here just in case Miss Zaika or any other Russophile should see this thread... )

 

[Benny Holiday]

It's gone way too far in the movies, too much so for it to be 'in context' much of the time. As so much of what we see and watch here comes from the USA, a lot of people I know think that your average American cusses constantly like Joe Pesci or the characters from The Sopranos or Deadwood.

I'm no prude, I grew up in the rough part of town and, sad to say, I've been known to let a few choice phrases fly myself all too often. But there are films and TV shows that shock even me these days, and I'm embarrassed when my mother and even my wife watch them.

The worst I've ever heard, I think, was Casino. I'm sure I heard Joe Pecsi spit out on particularly distasteful word about ten times in a fifteen-word sentence!

Too much!

 

[Edward]

Honestly when you hit a certain level of non-profanity it only makes sense on the Dukes of Hazzard.

"That low-down dirty skunk done robbed the orphanage! Let's teach him a dang lesson, Luke!"

Quite. I don't have a great objection to it in context, though for the most part if that context means that it is virtually the entirety of the dialogue I tend to find it simply tedious.

I don't think there is a french equivalent of our favourite F-word, unlike German Dutch etc, which makes one wonder where the expression 'excuse my french' came from

If memory serves, at least in the early 90s the French term was "encoulez vous" (fornicate you - or words to that effect, used in the same manner as the vulgar English equivalent of 'go forth and multiply.'). Experience has always shown me, however, that very many Europeans who have a first language other than English will swear in English when they feel the need for profanity. Part of the reason, as it was explained to me by a German, is that while most other European languages may have profane terms of their own, they don't often carry the same gutteral emphasis which makes the English variant so forceful in utterance. Perhaps popularisation by American films, as well as a notion that it is somehow more genteel to swear in a different language ("merde" sounds so much more polite to an English speaker), might also help explain this phenomenon.

This theory about archers at Agincourt actually refers not to the US middle finger salute, but to the British two-fingered salute, in which the index and middle fingers are raised in a V-sign, famously seen in the poster for the film Kes. However, Snopes reckons this is merely an urban legend.

Yes, I believed that story for a long time, though more recently the explanation for both middle finger and V sign seems to be that both were used in ancient Rome to depict a penis - displaying a hand gesture representing a penis was a gesture of contempt for the person at whom it was directed. I can't vouch for the veracity of this one either, but it's the other alternative to the Agincourt legend.

So, class, culture and a whole lot of things go into what is, and isn't, considered profanity. I don't mind it in the movies if it is true-to-life or if used, even, for humor. I don't like anything over-used, including nasty language.

Mother remembers when her father reprimanded her for saying the word "Jazz," because, early in the last century, it meant the same as the infamous "F" word, but was also a growing musical form. The music won out. Now, hardly anyone is alive who thinks "jazz" is a dirty word.

karol

Interesting re use of the word "jazz" - I wonder is that the reason why pornographic journals are often referred to as "jazz mags" in this part of the world?

As to class, I do believe that social class is very significant here - at least on this side of the Atlantic. Indeed, it often seems to me that only the middle classes are especially bothered by profanity. Working class folks by and large aren't so quick, IME, to support any notion of erradicating the use of foul language, while the tongues of a very significant proportion of the upper classes are rather bluer than ever their blood could be.

II have to disagree. If we were transported *back* we would be shocked to see what truly was: rampant, blatant, appaling racism and sexism, lecherousness, close-mindedness, exclusionary behaviors and community sanctioned stratification. True, along lines of profanity, perhaps we would be shocked, but I truly think it would have still been about context and relativism largely.

My mother recently, wholly mistaking my interest in 50s casual clothing for some sort of ghastly desire to return to a perceived nirvana in the past, said "If you'd lived through the fifties you wouldn't want to go back there" (this brought on by a bizarre intolerance on her part towards the notion of cuffed jeans of all things - you'd have thought I'd had a mild profanity stencilled down the thigh). A fair point, and likely one applicable to pretty much any decade there has been, or will be. I know I feel very much the same with respect to the 1980s revivalism I have encountered over the past few years.

Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur.

lol Id est!

Just as Madonna french kissed Britney Spears on the MTV awards, she said, the more you let people see it, the more they will want it, until they will finally accept it.

The lady (we'll give here the benefit of the doubt, shall we?) rather betrayed a gaping lack of self-awareness here, in my opinion. It seems to me that Madonna has spent so many years seeking to shock for its own sake that she has by now become somewhat a characateur of herself, and the only genuinely shocking thing left for her to do is to cease her signature attempts to be shocking.

Probably the best comment on thed use of profanity in general ever I heard was the teacher (himself a Territorial Army major, and I'm pretty certain able to swear up a blue streak) who told us:

"It is a remarkable person who can hit himself on the thumb with a hammer and not say something very rude. Someone who has to swear constantly and in every sentence merely has a very limited vocabulary."

That'll do me. Aside from the 'c' word, probably the last one to carry a serious taboo in mainstream society, I'm not really much offended by profanity - it's overuse is, however, incredibly tedious.

 

[ShortClara]

In my dancing days - I heard that ballerinas used the French word for the *s* word - merde - instead of the *s* word onstage because it sounded nicer. I have seen lips moving onstage in what looks suspiciously like "merde"!

 

[Fatdutchman]

Believe it or not, I actually find myself agreeing with Spitfire!!! Too many movies are made about unpalateable people!

I can't watch almost anything anymore. Not just because of the language, but because of the subject matter. Don't care for "anti-heroes". Don't like blood and guts just for the sake of blood and guts. Mafia garbage, gang movies, Horror or any of that crap.

Frack, It's all just a bunch of felgercarb...

 

[Feng_Li]

Experience has always shown me, however, that very many Europeans who have a first language other than English will swear in English when they feel the need for profanity. Part of the reason, as it was explained to me by a German, is that while most other European languages may have profane terms of their own, they don't often carry the same gutteral emphasis which makes the English variant so forceful in utterance.

When I lived in Germany, everyone around me seemed perfectly content to swear in German. [huh]

 

[dhermann1]

"Death at a Funeral"

I just saw "Death at a Funeral" last weekend. I screamed with laughter. But it was interesting to see how this flick was put together. Most of the characters used the F word a LOT, and the purpose was to establish all their various insane secret agendas going on at the beginning of the film, to establish a decidedly non reverential atmosphere, and to establish the fact that these people were all very lovable twits. It worked, but was interestingly noticeable.

 

[Edward]

When I lived in Germany, everyone around me seemed perfectly content to swear in German. [huh]

Maybe it varies by region? Of course, there's a great emphasis that can be put on Scheisse too... I use it a lot myself.

 

[Twitch]

Dutchman you have a point there. I think there are more movies/shows about the infamous rather than famous and principal characters are more often protagonists rather than "heros." Hmmm?