Re: OT: Slang, curses and vulgarities

On 29 Jan 2005, at 5.26 pm, # 1 wrote:

> Gary Shannon wrote:
>
>> After two years of high school German
>> and a year of college German I was left with the
>> impression that the German people were hyper-polite
>> and had no way to cuss each other out or hurl vile
>> insults at each other.  Such things are never
>> mentioned in "polite society" and certainly not taught
>> in a high school language class.)
>
> Are there TV shows that are full of BIIIP sounds to cover all the f**k
> and
> sh*t equivalents in germany
>
> I know there are TV shows with these covering sounds in United-States
> and in
> Quebec but is that usual elsewhere?
>
> I've never watched a show from somewhere else with covered
> vulgarities, is
> it that the others are more respectfull, that the other support more
> swearings without covering them, or is it that I didn't saw enough TV
> shows
>
> Probably that the vulgarity is measurable by the need of covering
> vulgarity
In Australia it depends on the intended audience and the time. Shows
such as The Panel which is broadcast live and has an intended audience
of younger adults who use swear words anyway get away with it no
questions asked (but the show is rated M because of the risk of mild
coarse language and adult themes).

Some shows are rated R, which legally limits the people who can watch
it to 18+, due to excessive coarse language; the movie _Reservoir Dogs_
is a reasonably well-known example of this. Obviously it's not beeped.

Most non-live aspects of radio are beeped (and most radio show hosts
don't swear), whereas the equivalent albums are not beeped, but have
warnings if they contain coarse language.

I think shows rated PG need to be beeped, and it can't be excessive if
it wasn't to remain unbeeped and either M or MA.

But the vast majority of all of this applies only to 'cunt' and 'fuck'
(and derivatives, incl. 'motherfucker'). 'Bugger', 'bastard', 'shit',
'root'* and so forth are hardly even considered swearwords in
Australia, at least not by the people I talk to.  ('Cunt', though is
considered so incredibly offensive that I didn't even know what 'c---'
meant, or that it was so incredibly offensive a swear word, till a
relatively old age, because it's not used because it's that offensive.
I exaggerate this of course, and in the various groups where a
grammatical sentence requires at least five different forms of the
f-word, 'cunt' could be use daily, but it's still most definitely at
the top of the hierarchy.)

Personally, I consider beeping more offensive, but I'm not a parent
(and don't usually swear anyway).

* means 'fuck', but you can use 'root' when you can't use 'fuck'. Used
to be more offensive but has died out of use more-or-less, but the
American slang 'root for _' still has an interesting double meaning
when interpreted in Australia.

PS: Ratings is Australia are legally binding and done by the
government-owned Office of Film and Literature Classification; being
'refused classification' is their euphemism for 'censored', and shows
rated X can only be obtained in the ACT. Shows rated MA and R require
that you be over 15 or 18 respectively in order to watch it, but the
person who gets prosecuted is the seller/guardian, not the buyer/child.

--
Tristan.