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not for everyone, I had to read the other posting to get the image ... some people, some minds!
On this topic, though, my partner swears all the time as a matter of course. Quoting someone the other day, I used the F word and he said 'congratulations on coming into the real world!' I haven't said it since, though ...
I was behind my desk at work in the Secondary School library one day. There was a student at one of the desks (waiting to do detention) and he was talking to his friends. Every second word was the F word. I asked him if he'd mind not using that word in the library. He looked at me, frowned for a second and then began apologising profusely. He'd had no idea he was doing it. It was just part of his vocabulary, which obviously he's not allowed to use in front of staff, but he'd forgotten I was there. His apologies weren't because he was afraid of being punished, he honestly was sorry. Which makes you wonder why they do it in the first place.
My language is quite colourful, I admit, but I know when and where it's appropriate and when it definitely isn't - too many people can't make the distinction, which I think is why other people are offended by such language.
But I'm generally a 'polite' person - except when I stub my toe on something at 200 mph, and then everyone knows about it ;)
i found it strange to hear an elderly man talking to a friend and swearing just like the teens in the street! i didn't expect that sort of language to come out of his mouth, that's for sure...
From what I read, Jacqueline Wilson didn't know the dual meaning, and neither (presumably) did the proofreader.
I once taught a Dutch student Chaucer from a linguistic point of view, and, believe me, once you got under the language, it was filthy- but very amusing. Usage changes all the time. eg "wicked", "dude" and other teenageisms, using old words to mean new things. The Elizabethans were the same. Maybe the language wasn't evolving quickly enough to convey new ideas and concepts.
KateyAnne's man on phone was probably Gordon Ramsay.
What tw** word is this? could it alternatively be known as the **at word? I really didn't think that was a swear word. It seems more like a euphemism to me.
I was sitting outside today (at work) having a break when two women sat at the same picnic table. I was talking to my sister about erotica. The two women promptly left. I didn't think erotica was an offensive word!
Wow! I can't believe they think the word twat is offensive, I didn't even know it was a swear word. Yeah, I know what it can sometimes refer to but most of the time its just a synonym for idiot, and no stronger a word than that!
Exactly FMN, that is the problem. Where I come from it was used to refer to someone being incredibly stupid, an absolute idiot.
I had never known it as anything else.
Comments
On this topic, though, my partner swears all the time as a matter of course. Quoting someone the other day, I used the F word and he said 'congratulations on coming into the real world!' I haven't said it since, though ...
My language is quite colourful, I admit, but I know when and where it's appropriate and when it definitely isn't - too many people can't make the distinction, which I think is why other people are offended by such language.
But I'm generally a 'polite' person - except when I stub my toe on something at 200 mph, and then everyone knows about it ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GL2Jpv4jt4
I once taught a Dutch student Chaucer from a linguistic point of view, and, believe me, once you got under the language, it was filthy- but very amusing. Usage changes all the time. eg "wicked", "dude" and other teenageisms, using old words to mean new things. The Elizabethans were the same. Maybe the language wasn't evolving quickly enough to convey new ideas and concepts.
KateyAnne's man on phone was probably Gordon Ramsay.
Guess this doesn't help this thread. :-)
http://www.amazon.com/Enders-Game-Orson-Scott-Card/dp/0765342294/ref=sr_1_22?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1220973879&sr=1-22
age 9-12 Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.
Hmmm.
And here it is again!
To find this thread I put the word in question into a Comments Search. It's amazing how often it turns up within a longer word!! :)
I was sitting outside today (at work) having a break when two women sat at the same picnic table. I was talking to my sister about erotica. The two women promptly left. I didn't think erotica was an offensive word!
It is just people who don't know what it is have peculiar ideas about it.
FMN if you read some of the first page on this thread you will discover more you might not know- I didn't either...:)
I had never known it as anything else.