Re: Langmaker.com and another thought (was Re: LUNATIC SURVEY: 2005)

Roger Mills wrote:

> Someone commented that what's obscene (or just merely insulting) would
> depend on the conculture. And I suspect many of of have overlooked that-- I
> know I have, in many cases, and ought to devote more thought to getting away
> from the defecatory/sexual obscenities that _we_ consider so horrible. I
> wonder if it's a Judaeo-Christian (+Islamic) thing...:-))
>
> Any comments about other cultures/traditions? nat- as well as con-??
In the Simik (formerly Zirínka) language, the most "obscene" words are
the plain words for things like "virus", "torture", and "war". These are
words that are avoided in polite or formal conversation, while the
Zireen sexual vocabulary is considered more or less innocuous (no more
shocking than words like "hug" or "kiss" in English). I haven't given
much thought to words for excretory functions. I think they'd be mildly
repulsive, like the word "vomit" in English, but not especially
objectionable.

Here's a web page I made back when this subject came up years ago:

http://www.io.com/~hmiller/lang/ZireenExpletives.html