Sunday, 27 September 2009

Will the real swear-words please stand up

Being away from my blog has driven my thinking nuts. Every incident becomes a 'blog post' in my mind and everyone I see seems a potential character for the blog matter. Well, that brings me to today's entry. Swearing! Gosh! how easy it is to hear people swear in English (I am talking about the breed that is commonly known as the 'middle-class' with which I am familiar and part of). The f's and b's spring forth like 'something-for-which-there needs-no-practice.' How many of us even know the swear words in our own mother-tongue? This post argues for the knowledge of the mother-tongue in addition to the highly adopted usage of English.

I do not seem to claim to know all the words and thats why I strive to write this. WHY? How many of us curse in English as the need arises? Another thing is that unparlimentary words sound 'okay' to the ears when rendered in English. But translating the same words into our tongue does not sound dignified. A bad word is a bad word for heaven's sake be it in any language! The f word has become so ubiquitous that it is almost part of the so called 'proper' language. Every word is prefixed with the f word! Ridiculuous. If everyone were to do the same with their mother-tongue how would it sound? When we pass by people who are fighting on the streets and hear some sharp swear words, we twitch and cringe but when we hear the same words in the College canteen or a board-room, we do not react at all. Its part of the normal vocabulary. Hmmm. So much for English and globalisation that even swear words have become homogenised. No one swears in their tongue. English curse-words rule. No diversity I say!

4 comments:

  1. Haha! Loved this post! yeah, I guess you're right. I mean I have friends who call each other up and say "Hi Fucker" in a near-affectionate drawl..its really super-funny!

    I guess it is kind of weird why english swear words are more acceptable while the more raw rustic swear words make us cringe!

    But every swear word is outlawed in my house, irrespective of language! :D

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  2. Ah! Bluey: In my house I have never heard any swear word! So much so. Well that is compensated by my friends and general group in College.
    The same goes for every other conversation too. We are so fluent in English that only while wearing 'ethnic' clothes for celebrations one looks Indian.

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  3. Swearing in English is considered cool, but swearing in a native language is considered downtrodden, retarded.

    Blame it on all those reality shows who actually thrive on the use such foul language and celebrities who make a living out of swearing.

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  4. Kadambari: So nice to see your comment. Come again!

    Joy always!

    ReplyDelete

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