Re: STOP: Slang, curses and vulgarities

Henrik Theiling wrote:

> Please stop the thread now.  We talked a lot, it became too hot and
> some people have already left the list.
I'm with the people who believe that anyone who feels uncomfortable
with a discussion *about* swear words as a linguistic phenomenon, or
who feels uncomfortable seeing them written down in the context of
such a discussion, has an opinion that really isn't worthy of much
respect - *unless* they have a psychological condition tantamount to a
phobia of swear words, in which case (but only in that case) they have
a good excuse. I also agree wholeheartedly with Mark about sexual
stereotypes.

The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy has an entry on the use-mention
distinction, which is relevant here - it's the one entry in the Oxford
Dictionary of Philosophy that really ought to be taught to
kindergarten students. :-) Mentioning swear words is *not* tantamount
to swearing.

Adrian.

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